


Spells of Defiance

by Dejahthoris



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Incubus Yugi, Other, Polyamorous Character, Polyamory, Vampire Atem, vampire yami
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2020-08-20 07:21:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 49,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20224012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dejahthoris/pseuds/Dejahthoris
Summary: The Circle of Magicians protects the world from rogue, murderous fey. The police who keep bloodsuckers and flesh-eaters in check. You've hunted vampires for years, earning a reputation as one of the best magicians in that field; but what happens when an encounter with a particular vampire makes your already fragile loyalties split?Supernatural/Demon Hunter AU. Vampire!Atem x Reader x Incubus!Yugi (yes, a polyamorous relationship). Warnings for cursing, vulgar language, violence, and some sexual themes.I do not own Yugioh or it's characters.





	1. One:Atem

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally a one-shot in my "Atem x Reader x Yugi one-shot book" but I was so inspired by the idea and received such positive feedback for it, that I decided to make it into a series! For those of you who read the original one-shot, the first two chapters are just that broken in two.
> 
> For those of you who are new to this story, I want to mention that I took commonplace supernatural/fey lore and mixed it with my own ideas. I also took some inspiration from the original Yu-gi-oh series, like calling magic users "magicians" instead of witches or sorcerers. Hope you guys enjoy the ride~

Warehouses and abandoned buildings. Why was it always one of the two? Honestly neither were all that abundant in terms of being empty and isolated enough to be a useful hidey hole, but this one had managed to find one worthy of a Batman villain. Boarded up windows, isolated from the brunt of the nearby city, and not queued for any restoration projects. Good. That meant you could let loose without worry for innocent bystanders.

The creature screeched as you threw him to the ground, sputtering and hissing at your feet, but stunned all the same. The ones who trained you to fight these creatures knew what they were doing when they branded your right palm with the magician's enchanted seal. It helped channel your magic and you called up a flame bright, hot, and particularly threatening to the fanged thing before you.

"Let's try that again," you asked evenly, despite the thundering of your heart and heat of adrenaline that a fight always gave you. "I'm going to ask a question about your boss and you're going to answer me. Simple as that."

Apparently recovered from your last attack, your target snapped his head back up at you, fangs bared, hissing, eyes bulging, and body taught for an attack. You were ready when he leaped and you threw your fire spell at his airborne form. The screech of pain didn't surprise you, what did was the fact that the beast endured the pain enough to charge through the flames and closer to you! A reflexive dodge wasn't quite enough this time and you felt the vampire's fangs sink in deep and hot into the flesh of your right wrist.

You stifled the shout of pain as both of you stumbled to the ground, him pinning you down with one hand on your throat, the other on the arm he was clamped to. Another surprise came in the form of white-hot pain searing through the flesh of your hand. That wasn't right. Vampire bites didn't cause such pain. You looked over to see the enchanted seal on your hand pulsating in time with the stabs of agony.

_'What the-'_ Just as quickly as the thought came you shook it from your mind. _'Focus, damn it!'_

Though the seal was there to help you channel your magic, it was not completely necessary and you charged another spell into your left hand. Fire crackled on your fist as you drove it into the vampire's temple. It reared back with another hissing wail and a second punch, this time to the gut, caused him to fly back and crash into one of the half-rotted walls.

Pain still throbbed in your right arm as you stood and you chanced a glance at the wound. As expected the fang wounds were healing instantly, the vampire's toxin doing its job. Still, the fact that your magician's seal hurt at all was cause for concern.

No time to think about it now, however. Your eyes snapped back to the vampire. He was poising himself on all fours, a malicious brand of mirth in his eyes as his tongue lapped at the smear of blood on the corner of his mouth.

"Hmm, you taste good, little magician. I gonna enjoy sucking you dry." His voice was like nails dragging across metal, just an add-on to make your skin crawl all the more.

Then he was leaping at you again, but your willingness to play the fighting game was gone with his last attack. Time to end this. He closed in, likely thinking himself victorious, but you pulled your dagger out in a flash. The silver blade slashed across his face, gouging and burning deep. The pain made him fall to your feet and you could actually hear the sizzling of his skin.

"Fire _and_ silver, a blood-sucker's biggest weaknesses. Honestly, it's almost unfair how much advantage I have over you, vampire. Now," you grabbed him by the collar, his twig-like frame making it easy to hoist him up into the air, "unless you want me to start making fancy burn marks on your skin with my silver friend here, you're going to come with me quietly. Then, you're going to tell the Circle of Magicians all you know about Marik."

He struggled against your grip, his strength returning, though all you had to do to make him wilt was hold the flat of the silver blade dangerously close to his face. "If I talk, the Vampire King will kill me! Besides, if he doesn't get to me first, the Circle will kill me anyway! They burn any rogue fey they come across."

"True," you conceded, "they don't take kindly to human killers like you. But, if you came with me, I can promise a quick death." For dramatic effect, you quirked an eyebrow at him, "Will Marik give you the same if I throw you back to him?"

The vamp was sweating now, eyes darting all around, feet weakly kicking in a fit. Then, his posture stiffened, "I have a better idea."

Much like he had with the fire, he took the pain of the silver and kicked you hard in the gut. You dropped him reflexively and he took the chance to run at one of the boarded up windows. What was he- it was three in the afternoon!

"Stop! The sun-"

Too late, he crashed through the wood and into open sunlit air. It didn't take long for the sun to ignite his body in flames. He was just dust by the time you got to the window and looked at the ground below. You cursed under your breath, slamming your fist into the frame of the window. He was your only lead in this case and chose suicide by sunlight over facing Marik's wrath. The Council was not going to be happy about this.

***

Teleportation spells had never been your forte, but you were desperate to get back to the Sanctuary, take a long scalding shower, and dive into your next possible lead, given that your last had just thrown himself into the sun.

The Sanctuary was the headquarters for the Circle of Magicians. It was a sprawling structure, only two stories high but crossed enough square feet to be considered quite an impressive castle. Well, a human realtor might throw it in that or the mansion category if they even knew about the place. Enchantments assured that no one besides a magician with a palm seal, or a visitor escorted by one could enter the Sanctuary grounds. Why they called it that name was beyond you, the place was a haven for no one, truly.

The other magicians paid you and your bloodied clothes no mind as you walked the halls, knowing that unless you were collapsing on the floor from injuries, there was little cause for worry. Life in the Circle did that to a person. Made one desensitized to blood and gore, or just about everything horrifying really. One does not sling spells and hunt demons for a living without such a particular defense mechanism.

Still, the idea of rinsing off the blood was a heavenly concept. Luckily most of it wasn't your own, but vampire blood had a particular stench to it. You turned the water on hot and had just removed your jacket and shirt when the door to the showers was thrown open. A familiar voice practically shouted your name as a brunette rounded the corner of your stall.

"Mana, what is it, what's wrong?"

"We have to go, now! They got tired of waiting and they moved his hearing up- they're putting him on trial _now_!"

Ice filled your veins in an instant. "What?!" How could they possibly-

"Hurry! You're the only one interested in proving he's innocent!"

Mana took the liberty of shutting off the shower head as you threw your shirt back on. Somehow, taking off a wet, putrid garment only to put it back on was more uncomfortable than having it on originally, but that was only a passing thought as you bolted out of the door with your fellow magician.

To most, the idea that a member of the Circle was concerned with the innocence of a fey was laughable. The Circle and its members hunted fey who stepped out of line and when one was accused of crossing that line, there was usually evidence enough not to question it. Or so they liked to say.

This time there was evidence, however. The problem was that you were the only one who knew about this particular man's innocence and the Council seemed disinterested with your testimony.

You had been tracking the vampire cult ruled the mysterious Marik for a while and had busted several of the follower's hideouts. They were human killers and were trialed as such, but then, you had found _him_. He got to the abandoned house before you, already disposed of two cultists and had a third by the throat when you burst in. At first, he had asked you to leave the situation to him, much to your annoyance. Of course, when back up in the form of nearly a dozen vamps showed up to kill their intruders, he was all too happy to accept your help. Honestly, you would have been in bad shape if it wasn't for him watching your back as well.

It was a short battle, but he proved himself worthy of your alliance in those moments- but then your own backup had come. Seeing a vampire covered in blood had been all that the other magicians needed to pin him down and place a binding spell on him, so that he could be carried back to the Sanctuary and put on trial with Marik's followers. Mana was right to say you seemed to be the only one who gave a damn about his innocence.

The doors to the trial hall came into view, but so too did the last person you wanted to see right now. The built blonde was leaning against the wooden doors and he smirked that condescending, almost sickening smirk when he turned his shaded eyes toward your thundering feet.

"Well well, come to watch the show?"

"Out of my way, Keith," you didn't bother hiding the hiss in your tone, wanting every ounce of intimidation you could muster.

His smirk only lengthened. "Aw, are you mad that your pet's being put down? Seriously, why do you give a damn if they put the cross to him? He's a vamp, a pretty old one from what they can tell, too. Probably killed plenty of people in his day."

"He's innocent, the Council needs to hear what she has to say!" Mana pipped up, actually daring to step between you and Keith to glare up at the man. For such a small girl, she could glare like a champ.

"The Council don't give a damn. We found him at the cult house, he's a vampire, pretty obvious he's following Marik."

You let out a growl and started to push past the blonde, "I don't have time for this, out of my way!"

Even if you hadn't hated Keith to the bone since you trained together as kids, you still would have acted on instinct when he grabbed hold of your arm. Fire was called to the seal on your palm and you turned into the force he pulled you back with; using the momentum to ram the heel of your hand into his gut. The contact was brief, but your fire spell had enough to work with and his jacket quickly caught fire. He'd survive, but the profanity-ridden distraction was enough for you to push open the doors to the trial room.

They gave a resounding crash from the force you used, effectively drawing everyone's attention as you entered and threw the doors shut behind you. The Council was a gray-haired, wrinkled lot, who all donned the same robes as they sat on their chairs, raised high on a platform so that the one on trial felt small beneath them. Of course, even with the trouble he was in, you doubted this vampire ever felt small beneath anyone.

And oh had they tried.

Not only was he bound by the usual enchanted chains, but a binding circle glowed on the floor around him, something that was usually reserved for the most dangerous fey. You were surprised that he could move at all, but he still turned his head at your arrival and locked eyes with you. Even under threat of death, Atem's eyes looked so calm.

You couldn't get lost in those eyes now and you gave yourself a mental shake before you could. That's when you noticed a third precaution the Council had taken to keep Atem in line. A muzzle of all things. The fact that he had yet to fight back against any of his magician captors meant nothing apparently.

"What do you think you're doing?!" shouted one of the council mages.

You met his glare head-on, approaching the center of the room to stand beside Atem as you spoke. "I'm here to give my testimony to the Council. I stand by my initial report that the one on trial is innocent."

Silence for just a second, then some whispers, and finally: "Yes yes, we know what your report said. However, since you have yet to bring us a live member of Marik's cult to confirm that this man is not also a member, we must take action."

"Hold a moment," drawled a third voice, looking at you with a somehow lazy interest. "Wasn't she just on a mission to capture a solo agent of the cult? Were you successful in capturing it?"

Shame boiled up from your gut. The feeling was not unfamiliar, however, the feeling not being a result of the Council's disappointment was. You didn't care about your failure in their eyes. No, you were ashamed because you had failed the vampire beside you.

"No. When I apprehended him, he committed suicide by sunlight rather than betray his master."

The second who had spoken clicked her tongue. "I see. And do you have any other proof, besides your word, that the vampire is innocent?"

Again shame reared inside your chest. You could feel Atem's eyes looking at you out of their corners. Would you see disappointment there if you glanced back? Instead, you kept your eyes locked on the magicians before you.

"No. But my word should be enough. What reason would I have to lie?"

The one with lazy interest shrugged, "You would not be the first magician to cover for a criminal fey."

"But he isn't a criminal!" You tempered the volume of your voice in an instant, knowing that yelling would not make them hear your plea any better. To show composure, you took in a deep breath. "Our duty is to protect everyone from rogue, murderous fey. That protection doesn't end at humans, we're supposed to protect other fey as well. Force a truth potion down my throat to prove I'm not lying if you want. The vampire known as Atem is innocent."

The Council fell to whispering between one another again and in that reprieve, you noticed Atem shift beside you. Finally, you looked at him again, just a slight turn of your head. The muzzle prevented him from speaking, but he didn't need words, his eyes said all they needed to. The potent emotion behind them actually caught you off guard. Damn, you had only known him a few days but somehow, his eyes had this strange effect on you. Feelings that were foreign to you stirred and you clenched your jaw as if that would keep them at bay. He seemed so...thankful. You just hoped it was enough.

A councilman spoke your name and the two of you turned your attention back to them. "We have taken your testimony under great consideration. However, the other vampire we caught the day Atem was apprehended gave his own testimony. He insists that this vampire is also a follower of Marik's cult. We must be thorough in our purging of this threat. The vampire on trial will be executed in forty hours."

"No!"

Your exclamation was lost as the councilman clapped his hands and a boom echoed out from them like thunder; their version of a gavel. One by one the members rose from their seats and Atem was suddenly tugging at his chains.

"Best not fight, vampire," said another councilwoman, her tone cold as she waved her hand, casting a spell.

The marks on the chains glowed and Atem could only give a closed-mouthed shout of pain as he was brought to his knees. The light of the binding circle around him rose, making a transparent cocoon to further encage him.

No, no! This was cruel. This was wrong! They didn't give a damn about justice!

"Stop! You don't have to hurt him!"

The one who was so disinterested during the trial still sounded quite bored as he said, "Remove her, please, before she does something else foolish."

You had barely even registered the magicians who had been standing guard by the door, but now they closed in on you. You couldn't strike them like you had Keith, especially not with your superiors right there. They dragged you out with minimal force, but you could still hear Atem's struggles as they closed the doors behind you.

***

You had never been placed in security details, your gift for fire spells usually landed you on hunting missions for vampires and other fey weak to the element. Still, you knew the prison wing of the Sanctuary well, and it was not unusual to see you there. You used that to your advantage, leaning up against the wall by the door that led to the wing, waiting for the late shift to start. This time period would ensure the most privacy, the least likely for anyone to overhear what you had to say to Atem.

Finally, you heard footsteps and you knew the inspection crew was done making their daily rounds in the cells. Still wary that they might bar you from entering the wing, you took a step back, hoping to go less noticed by the group. The doors opened and the crew stepped out, barely taking notice to you as they continued down the hall, likely on their way to get something to eat. Only one gave you more than a passing glance.

Mahad was head of security at the Sanctuary and, though fair, was one of the more likely magicians to shoo you away, knowing exactly why you were there. He paused in his steps for a second, his blue eyes locking firm on your own. Then, he only sighed and gave you a very pointed look that conveyed a very firm order of: 'don't do anything you'll regret', before he continued on his way as well.

Even if you had planned some rule breaking plot, you knew there was little chance of executing it now. If his guards found Atem's cell empty, he would waste no time in telling the Council who he saw. He was a fair, good man, but ultimately a follower of the Circle's law.

The mark on your right hand allowed you to enter the prison wing without question after you pressed it to the flat surface where a handle would normally be on the door. The cells had a low occupant rate, like usual, but they had still shoved Atem deep within the prison; isolated even from the few other prisoners. The hallway was dark and you couldn't see Atem even as the silver-coated bars of his cell came into view.

He must have smelled your scent on their air, however, because even though he stood in the center of the cell, his back turned to the bars, he addressed you the moment you reached them. "You shouldn't have come."

"It's not against regulations for me to visit the cells."

Atem sighed before finally turning towards you. "I don't want you to get into any more trouble because of me."

You only shrugged. "I just...I needed to see you after all that. I'm pissed that they made a show out of your trial. We only take precautions like that with high-level fey and you've shown no violent tendencies since they arrested you. A muzzle for god sakes!"

The scarlet eyed vampire managed a smirk before his eyes glanced over your new, clean clothes. "You made quite the entrance. Fierce and bloodstained. You looked like Sekhmet incarnate."

His tone said that he was saying the last bit to himself, almost absentmindedly, but you found your curiosity piqued. "Sekhmet, that's the Egyptian goddess of war, right?"

Atem nodded. "In a way. She is a warrior goddess, but, also the goddess of healing. Strength and gentleness intertwined perfectly."

Something in his eyes said that the hearing was not the first time the comparison of you to a goddess came to his mind. Again, unfamiliar feelings bubbled up and you swallowed hard, throwing a very firm lock on the sensation. Still, him speaking of ancient gods of the sands said a lot. Hunt vampires long enough and you get pretty good at telling whether one was turned in the last few decades, centuries, or even farther back. Everything about Atem spoke of an old world neglected by time. His skin, though pale from centuries or more of having to avoid the sun, seemed to have once had a richer complexion. His clothes, though not unusual to the modern eye, had a timelessness to them. Plain cotton shirt, dark pants, and metal jewelry that looked forged by rough hands instead of a factory's machine. Had he possibly come from the time of Sekhmet and pharaohs?

"Thank you."

His words brought you out of your musings, and you had to blink a few times to realize what he'd said. "Why are you thanking me? Nothing I did seemed to make a difference."

Instead of a smirk, he actually gave you a smile, a soft, genuine smile. He stepped closer to the bars, close enough to stay just out of reach of the silver's burning effect. "Still. You did not give up on helping me. If I'm honest, I would have never suspected anyone in the Circle would care for a vampire at all. Yet, here you are, defying your leaders and putting your reputation on the line, for me. A creature you've been taught to kill first and ask questions of later."

And there it was. What most fey thought of your kind. Magicians were the worst of police, the kind who kept peace by any means necessary and told the very people they clenched their fists around that it was for their own good. You had been born into that life, spending your whole youth under the Circle and training to serve them. Even with either constant teachings that magicians did what they had to in order to keep the peace, you saw their prejudices and their cruelty for what it really was. Did you really deserve a thank you for being slightly less brutal than that?

"The Council is wrong," you whispered and if it weren't for the stone silence of the prison wing, he might not have even heard you.

"That may be, but you've done all you can, and I thank you for that."

Lies. There was more you could do and...and that defeated, resolute tone of his last words made your next decision firm. There was more you could do. You had thought about it every moment since the end of his sentencing. It was the only way and it didn't even seem that hard of a choice. You weren't going to let them kill Atem.

You almost acted on the thought now, but caught yourself quickly. You had to be patient. You had over a day to plan, and there were more opportune times than now to execute said plan. Besides, you figured that if you brought it up now, Atem would just deny your help and stubbornly stay in his cell. Await death rather than risk your safety like some damn chivalrous knight. Maybe when he spent all whole night in the cell as a condemned man, he'd be more willing to let you help him escape.

Again you were brought out of your musings when Atem called your name.

"May I ask one more favor of you?" he asked with some small hesitance. "There is someone very important to me, he is likely already frantic that he hasn't heard from me these past few days. Tomorrow, could you go to him and tell him what happened? Tell him how sorry I am that I let myself get caught up in this- that I let my need for revenge bring me here." Heavy emotion had marred his speech and Atem had to draw in a breath to steady himself. "I just want him to know that I didn't abandon him... And how sorry I am."

"What's his name?" you asked, the gentleness in your voice surprising even yourself.

"Yugi. He owns a magic shop in Domino. He is...very special to me. What I regret the most about all of this, is not being able to see him again."

You chose your reply carefully, you didn't want him to catch on to the plan brewing in your mind yet. You couldn't let him know how determined you were to make sure he saw this person again. Not yet.

"Don't worry, Atem. Yugi will know exactly how you feel." You needed another topic, so he couldn't analyze your words too much. Your eyes scanned the small cell and finally took notice to something odd. "They didn't give you any blood to drink?"

"No. I was assuming they would wait until hours before my execution to feed me. A last meal of sorts."

"Idiots. If they starve you too long you'll go into a blood-rage and they'll actually need that magic muzzle."

You had seen enough vampires in blood-rages over the years. It was a gory affair that should be avoided at all costs. Even a vampire as peaceful as Atem would turn into little more than a rabid animal when starved; the bloodlust overriding any sense of humanity.

Not only was that something to be avoided, but he would be weak as a sick child by tomorrow.

The bars of the cell were wide enough for you to get your hand through, so, you pushed back the left sleeve of your shirt. He must not have suspected you to offer, because shock flashed in his eyes when you slipped your hand passed the bars and bore your wrist to him.

"Here," you had to clear your throat, the words having come out as little more than a whisper for some reason. "You need to eat, take some of my blood."

Shocked turned into something hard and almost pained as he took your hand and pushed it back towards the silver bars. "No. You've done more than enough for me as it is, I won't take your blood too." He flinched in pain as the silver burned him, his fangs flashing in reaction.

"It's alright, Atem." You pressed closer to the bars, pushing him back out of the silver's reach, but did not withdraw your hand from his grip. "I need you at full strength and it's not as if I don't know what I'm doing. I trust you, I know you won't take too much. Besides," a playful grin lifted your lips as you waved your right palm at him, the seal there visible even in the dim light, "it isn't like I'm helpless to stop you."

Honestly, all you really needed to do if your blood tasted too good, was jerk him hard enough to slam him against the bars and he'd let go of you on reflex from the burning if nothing else. You decided to keep that thought to yourself though.

Those eyes of his burned into yours, a silent way of asking if you were absolutely sure. When you answered back with unwavering certainty in your own gaze, his shoulders finally relaxed just a bit and he closed his eyes with a sigh.

He turned your hand so the inside of your wrist faced him and he lifted it slowly, as if giving you even more time to change your mind before the skin met his mouth. You took in a slow breath as his lips parted, revealing long, thin fangs just a second before they bit down. The slight sting was nothing, quickly being replaced with the curative lacing his fangs that numbed any piercing sensation, as well as the feeling of blood passing through the wound.

Even if vampire bites did hurt longer than that split second, Atem had a special kind of gentleness about him. He held your arm in a firm grip so that the instinct to pull away would not tear the punctures any larger, and you blushed when you realized that his thumb was running soothing circles along your forearm just below the bite.

You knew that some vampires survived by making pacts with humans or other fey, offering some kind of service in exchange for letting them drink small amounts of said partner's blood to survive. You had assumed Atem was one who chose animal blood over a human or fey host, but the way he handled you with such care made you reconsider that assumption.

Finally, cold air hit your wrist as he pulled back. Though, even more heat rose in your cheeks when you felt his tongue dart out to collect any blood that spilled before his curative healed the wound. The hand that had run so gently over your arm moved to cover the place he bit, though there wasn't even a scar or sign of wound at all now. When he looked up at you, the hands cupped over yours tightened just a bit.

"Your face is flushed- do you feel alright?"

In his worry, Atem tried to step closer to you, but the bars ensured his distance. You were quick to alleviate the guilt and shame taking his features.

"I'm fine, Atem. Not even light-headed." You paused a moment, making sure he didn't need any more reassurance, then asked, "Think it'll be enough to get you through the night?"

"Yes, more than enough." His mouth opened to say something else, but he must have thought better of it, because instead he only said, "Thank you. Now please, go get something to eat, it will prevent any fatigue or dizziness."

You actually scoffed at that, "I know how to handle blood loss, Atem." Indeed, the aftermath of a particularly nasty fight with a murderous werewolf came flooding back to you.

"Still, I've kept you down here too long. Get some rest and...again, thank you."


	2. Two:Yugi

A brief stop at the mess hall ensured several things, that you heeded the vampire's worry and got some food in you, as well as make your presence known to anyone who saw you go into the prison wing, alleviating any suspicions they might have on if you had a prison break in mind. Most of all, however, it gave you the chance to talk to Mahad about something that troubled you all day.

After sitting in the chair opposite him at his usual table, you told him about the strange thing that happened when Marik's follower bit your right arm. You had been bitten by several vampires over the years and the one just moments ago proved that the hot pain wasn't some new reaction you developed. Though you omitted Atem's bite, Mahad seemed quite interested in your story. He asked to look at your hand, the one with the Circle's seal on it, and examined the brand closely.

"I think the chemical vampires inject when they bite a victim reacted to the magic seal," he had concluded eventually. "Since the seal constantly feeds magic into your body, it likely reacted poorly to the vampire curative, like two incompatible chemicals igniting."

Well, that had been a good enough explanation for you. At least the thought that Marik was giving his followers some strange new powers was pushed down on your list of possibilities.

After your business there was taken care of, you retired to the second floor of the Sanctuary where everyone's quarters were. Your room, like every magician's, was small and devoid of much personalization aside from the stray trinket or two. Shelves were full of Circle-issued books, herbs, and tools mainly used for your job as a magician. It wasn't much, but at least it was yours.

You knew you needed rest, but too many thoughts swirled in your head as you curled up in bed. Possible ways to help Atem, how you could pull it off and what to do after you did. Several options for both bid for your attention, making you feel scatterbrained and restless.

Knowing that lack of sleep would only impede your ability to complete whatever plan you came up with, you eventually had to get up and take a vial from your stockpile of sleeping drafts. It was a drastic measure, you didn't like how the potion usually...amped up the weirdness of your dreams, but it was better than lying awake all night.

Once it had taken hold and you finally fell into sleep, it quickly became apparent that that particular side effect was doing wonders tonight. In the dream you were still lying in bed, only now instead of feeling disoriented and fitful, you sighed in relief as a wave of calm washed over you, leaving you content, warm, and...excited all at the same time somehow. You were even made aware of how wonderful the fabric of your clothes felt against your body, the garb not being your usual night clothes, but something silken and much more revealing. Then you dreamt of an arm, sliding its way across your hip before a firm hand gripped it. Fingers started stroking your hair and you hummed in delight as something else warm and soft draped lazily across your thigh.

"Are you comfortable?" a voice you couldn't ever remember hearing before whispered from behind. The voice was sweet and gentle, not unlike a butterfly's wings. You only hummed in response as the fingers continued to massage your scalp and temples, so the voice continued. "Good. Now, tell me about your day. I heard there was a trial, something involving a vampire?"

Memories of Atem's plight invaded your dreams. The both of you fighting side by side, his judgment by the people you served, his cell and his fangs piercing your skin with such care. The flash of memories felt almost painful. This was wrong. Why were some scenes replaying trice over behind your eyes? The fingers continued to soothe, and the soft string by your thighs swished slowly across your bare skin.

Then the sense of wrongness pitched to a high bar as something dug deeper. Memories of touring the Sanctuary played like a movie in your mind. Distant voices, the voices of guards posted at the cells were trying to swim to the surface as well. Something was looking for answers in your head. The thing swaying lazily at your thighs- how could you not have realized it was a tail the moment it touched you? And the hands stroking so gently, they had minor but undeniable claws to them!

Your mind was yours again in an instant and so was your body. You grabbed the wrist of the hand at your head and heard a gasp from the melodic voice. One swift motion and you were atop the invader. A second and his clawed hands were pinned down by your knees on either side of him. Your own hands were free to strike if needed- though you noticed your current state of dress and that made you lose an ounce or two of security. The sheer fabric of the negligee sent waves of vulnerability to your core, even as you stared daggers down at the incubus trapped beneath you.

His lavender eyes were naturally large, but they were widened in shock and, though he obviously tried to hide it, fear. Heat gathered in your right palm as you called on your fire, and you kicked your glare up to a ten as you addressed the demon.

"What the hell do you think you're doing invading the dreams of a magician, incubus?"

He wasn't trying to escape your grasp, knowing a physical struggle was pointless in the world of sleep. "I wasn't doing anything perverse if that's what you think." When you cocked your eyebrow and darted your eyes down to the lingerie you were dressed in, he actually flushed a pronounced pink color and looked away. "You d-dressed yourself in that, not me! It must have been conjured up when your subconscious picked up on...my type of magic."

The term 'pleasure magic' hung unspoken but heavy in the air between you two, since both of you knew what his 'type' was. You ignored the sudden wave of embarrassment upon remembering that you had been admiring this particular outfit in a store a couple of weeks ago. That wasn't important right now, you knew he wasn't here for a typical feeding, not with what was flashing in your head just a minute ago.

"You were looking for info on Atem. Why?" You kept your voice and gaze as firm and cold as steel, even when the incubus met your eyes again and you saw his own steel under the lavender irises.

"I can't tell you that."

Oh, he knew you couldn't actually do much in the dream world, but that was okay.

"Fine, have it your way."

You gripped the collar of his button-up in a firm grasp as you began chanting your spell, and that's when he did start to struggle. It was too late though. You plunged your grip into his very being, his life force, and pulled his essence along the tenuous connection he himself had made between you two in order to enter your mind. And just like that, his enchantment -the dream- faded, but his body became more solidified beneath your grip. You had hauled him through space from wherever he was hiding and into your room. Wasting no time once his physical being was there, you threw him off your bed and to the floor.

He hit the ground with a thud, but you hadn't put enough strength behind the move to cause him real pain. Damn, his huge leathery wings might be a problem in your tiny bedroom. His spade-tipped tail swished behind him as he took a defensive stance, still on all fours on the ground. Even with that, you sensed no real fight in him. Oh, he would definitely fight if he needed to, but, something in his eyes said he didn't want to fight you. So, not liking the idea yourself, even after his invasion of your privacy, you lessened the aggressiveness of your own stance. At least you were back in your actual PJ's in the real world, you felt much less vulnerable now.

"I just teleported your ass to the worst place a rogue fey can be," you started, keeping your tone cool. "Tell me why you were rifling through my head, and I might let you go."

The incubus did not respond at first, he looked as though he was weighing something in his mind carefully. You hadn't noticed it at first, the thick curling horns atop his head having obscured some of his hair, but, now that you got a better look at him, the demon bore quite a resemblance to Atem. They couldn't be related. Incubi and succubi were born demons, vampires were humans made into demons either by other vampires or by dark magicians casting a curse. Maybe they just liked the same brand of hair gel or something.

"You were trying to help him."

The incubus' words drew your attention from his face at large and more directly to his eyes. You honestly couldn't tell if his tone was accusatory or something else, but either way, a suspicion came to mind that you did not like.

"Are you working for Marik? Were you trying to find out how much the Circle knows about his little cult?"

The demon's brow creased in anger at the name. "No! I would never work for that monster!"

"Then why-" you stopped yourself, another thought popping into your head as you remembered what memories the incubus had been searching through. He not only searched for scenes of Atem but for your knowledge of the prison wing's layout. You made your voice a bit more gentle as you asked, "What's your name?"

The man again looked wary, considering. "...Yugi."

Your posture relaxed even more now and you actually sighed with relief. Yugi must have assumed he was safe because he too relaxed, getting up from his crouch slowly.

"Atem told you about me?"

"He asked me to find you and tell you what happened to him. He didn't want you to be left wondering." You crossed your arms, giving him an almost amused smirk. "I don't think he expected you to use your magic and go digging around in a magician's head."

Yugi blushed just a tad again but his voice was even as he said, "I'm sorry for invading your privacy, but I thought you were the magician who arrested him. When I saw your memories of the past couple days though..." He gave you an odd look, as if he was almost perplexed by you, though not in a bad way. "You were trying to prove he was innocent. You fought for him, you even let him..." his eyes flickered to your left wrist and the phantom feel of Atem's gentle bite pulsed there.

Feeling suddenly embarrassed again you moved the conversation along. "Look, I know what you were looking for in my mind, you want to break Atem out, but I'm telling you now it's not possible. There are wards and seals all around the prison wing and you can't get in without a magician's seal," you waved your right palm at him. "You'll just end up getting killed if you try to rescue him by yourself."

Again his eyes filled with an anger that you already suspected was uncommon for him. His eyes were meant to be soft and sparkling, not filled with hate.

"I'm not going to just stand by and let the Circle kill him! I can't!"

"Hey, hold on there, Yugi," you held up your hands to keep him calm, even with your noise canceling charms around the room, if he got too loud your neighbors might hear him. "I just said you can't do it by yourself." When his eyes exchanged anger for a soft flicker of hope, you couldn't help but smile. "Luckily for you, I'm not going to let them kill Atem either. And...your help might make things a lot easier on me..."

***

Even though your specialty was vampires, you knew quite a lot about pretty much all fey races, including the talents of incubi and succubi. They weren't just good at invading people's dreams and making your wildest sex fantasies come true, most were also talented at glamor charms. It went hand in hand with the whole 'fulfilling their desires' thing, not to mention it was necessary to turn their wings, horns, and tails invisible if they walked among humans.

After a short talk with Yugi, you were assured that he was one who could extend that talent to turn himself, and others, invisible altogether. That was a tool you needed in order to pull off the 'sneaking Atem out' portion of your plan. If _you_ cast an invisibility spell your fellow magicians would have a higher chance of sensing it and catching on to your plan. Yugi's brand of magic was different, It was less attune to a magician's senses. Like radio waves on slightly different frequencies.

You were glad that you had two endurance potions in your personal stock, you and Yugi had needed them by the morning. Not only were you up for hours discussing your plans but, when you tried to get a few hours rest, you simply couldn't fall asleep with an incubus so close. You knew Yugi meant no harm, he was easily one of the most respectful and gentle seeming demons you'd ever met, but that didn't mean the teachings of not trusting such creatures went away easily. Twice you had jerked awake and automatically reached for your silver dagger when your subconscious sensed his demonic energy so close.

You hated it. Hated that they had taught you to kill his kind with little to no questions. It was an impulse and teaching you had fought your entire life. Still, at least in this instance, being able to look down, see Yugi curled up on the carpet with your spare blanket and his peaceful sleeping face made you come back to your senses in a snap. He was so quick to trust you. You wondered if you yourself could ever get to that point.

At least now, in the waking world, you had enough control over your emotions to trust him. He was practically pressed against your back as you two walked down the halls of the Sanctuary, his form invisible to everyone. You could feel his warm breath on the back of your neck and if it wasn't for the fact that you had gleaned much of his gentle personality the night before, your instincts would be screaming at him being so close to such a vulnerable spot.

"I know we talked about this a lot last night," Yugi whispered in your ear, wary that the glamor would do nothing to hide his voice from passing magicians, "but are you sure it's best to do this during the day? Wouldn't it be easier at night?"

"Night is when they'd expect a vampire to escape," you muttered back, barely moving your lips. "Don't worry, Yugi. Everything will be fine. Just follow my lead and we'll be okay."

You heard him draw in a deep breath, "I know. I trust you."

That gentle, easy omission almost made you stop in your tracks, but you quickly pushed it to the back of your mind. Both of you needed to focus, there was no time for sentimentality.

It was a long trek from your quarters to the prison wing and the first half of that walk went by without incident, no other magician's paid you or your invisible friend any mind. That is, until a certain shade wearing blonde rounded a corner and locked eyes on you.

You cursed under your breath as Keith stormed towards you across the wide hallway. Trying to duck him would just make matters worse, better to address the threat now. Keith wouldn't do much with everyone else in the hall anyway, you just hoped he kept his distance while he barked.

"Heard your little cry-fest didn't do your pet vampire any good," Keith smirked as he came nearer. "But I gotta bone to pick with you."

Keith advanced and you couldn't escape. Damn him, you weren't the only one who knew how to corner prey. You backed into a wall and felt your back press against Yugi's chest. He took in a sharp breath and, almost as if on instinct, wrapped his arms around your middle. Poor guy obviously felt the need to hold his breath as Keith closed in and planted his fist on the wall beside your head.

"That little stunt you pulled yesterday is gonna cost you, girly. That was my favorite jacket."

"What, I didn't do anything," you defended against his attempt to intimidate. "I'm guessing your jackets burst into flames all the time, better than being on your back all day in any case."

If the comment annoyed him at all, it didn't show, his smirk only grew. "Cute. Bet you won't be cute when I drag ya in front of the Council." He dropped his tone to a conspiratorial whisper, like a teen sharing gossip. "See, I know about your little trip down to the dungeons after lockdown last night. My guess is your vampire boy _loved_ the company." Somehow his grin turned even more sadistic, "You got a fang fetish or something? Yeah, that's it, isn't it? Always knew you were a freak."

The arms around your waist tightened and Yugi let out a low rumble in his throat.

Keith's eyebrows knitted beneath his shades, "Did you just growl at-" He paused, his forehead wrinkling even further. Then his head jerked slightly. "The hell?"

His fist lowered from its spot by your head as Keith turned away a bit. He cursed under his breath again, then stepped away from you completely, looking quite frazzled even with his shades covering half of his face. The next moment Keith was powerwalking down the hall, throwing some half distracted comment about 'dealing with you later' over his shoulder as his fingers ran ragged through his hair.

"What did you do?" you whispered to Yugi, bewildered and still looking at Keith's retreating form.

You felt the incubus shrug against your back. "He seems like the type of man who doesn't appreciate gay porn, so, I planted an hour-long loop of it in his head."

You had to bite your lip quickly to keep from bursting out in laughter, oh, Keith was never going to forget this! The more you thought about it the more you wanted to laugh. Yugi, apparently having just realized that he had grabbed hold of you, finally unwrapped his arms from your waist. You took the chance to dart down a less crowded adjacent hallway and, the moment you were sure no one would see you, doubled over and let out a deep, long laugh.

You sensed Yugi join your side but you couldn't stop laughing, especially when the thought of Keith walking around, smacking his temples like a hazy TV to get the images to stop popped into your head. He was going to be very traumatized for the next hour.

"I- I can't remember the last time I la-laughed this hard!" you finally managed, trying to catch your breath. You honestly didn't, while you had managed to retain a sense of humor over the years, life as a demon hunter didn't offer much laughter.

Finally, you regained control of yourself, though you flashed a smile at where you assumed Yugi was standing before you stepped back out into the main hallway and resumed your walk to the prison wing. Again Yugi remained close behind you, obviously trying to keep calm while being in a proverbial hornet's nest, especially when other magicians passed close by. Still, you managed to get to your destination without trouble.

There was no one at the main entrance, but you knew guards would be patrolling the wing, and again, Yugi's magic would come in handy. After you pressed your palm to the magic seal on the door, stepped inside, and assured that no one was within sight, you shut the door behind you and turned to Yugi.

"Okay, glamor me like how I told you last night."

While he worked his magic, Yugi's imagine became viable in a shimmer, though only for a moment. An odd sensation of excitement washed through you as the spell took hold and he was finished in just a few seconds. You looked down at yourself and felt that the clothes were very much...not you. Neither was the curtain of flowing locks long enough to tuck into your belt, the hair color was the exact opposite of your own. Good, the whole point of this glamor was so the first prisoner you spoke to or anyone who caught a glimpse of you here wouldn't recognize you.

"When we approach this prisoner remember what I told you, Yugi. He may look like an innocent kid, but he's not. He's almost a hundred and fifty years old, dragons just age slower."

You heard the concern in Yugi's voice when he answered, "He's not going to hurt anyone, is he? Aren't you worried that he's one of the fey who really should be locked in here?"

"No. He doesn't have a history of violence," you tried to make your tone reassuring, even giving him what you hoped was a calm smile. "In fact, the only reason he's in here at all is because of his big brother. The Council was hoping to get some info about him and maybe even prove that he's been involved in his brother's shady adventures." You shrugged. "I don't know, he just doesn't seem like the type, and even if was helping out his brother, those dragons are way at the bottom of our 'most dangerous' list. I don't see the harm in breaking the kid out."

"I thought you said he wasn't a kid," Yugi's tone sounded quite amused.

You rolled your eyes, "Just follow me."

The little dragon's less than violent record was not the only reason you were willing to break him free. His cell was on the far side of the prison, opposite Atem's cell, making the little one a perfect distraction.

It felt wrong to say his cell was 'nice' but honestly, considering what the other prisoners were stuck with, it was. A nicer bed (though still a cot), a TV, books, and even a heater to keep his cold-blooded body warm. Whether his special treatment was due to the fact that the Council wanted him on their side, or because they feared retribution from his older brother if they treated him too harshly, you weren't sure.

When you stepped in front of his cell the youngling dragon was laid out on his cot, arms behind his head and eyes closed. Also looking quite human in his current form, unable to change into his winged form with the magical wards surrounding the prison.

He greeted you with a smug tone, "Day three. You guys are really pushing your luck keeping me here. Big brother's gonna be breaking down your walls to get me back any day now."

"What if you didn't have to wait?"

Your tone of voice drew his attention and his eyes snapped open, their gray depths locking on yours. "Who're you?"

"Someone who needs a distraction. I can get you out of the cell, and even give you directions to a section of this wing where I weakened the wards that keep you from transforming."

He sat up, looking suspicious, hopeful, and excited all at the same time. "What's the catch?"

"Like I said, I need a distraction. After you transform and go crashing through the nearest wall, I just want you to make an even bigger mess in the courtyard. Don't kill anyone, just draw as much attention as possible before you fly off."

"Did Seto send you?"

"No, but think how impressed your big brother will be when you come home all on your own."

Kids, human, dragon, or otherwise, would be kids, and kids liked to look cool. He agreed to your terms in a heartbeat, and after opening his cell and sending him on his way, you and Yugi booked it to Atem's cell.

It wasn't hard to avoid the two guards patrolling the halls, especially with your knowledge of their patterns and Yugi's help.

Much like the night before, Atem must have caught your scent on the air, not just yours though. He called out both yours and Yugi's names in surprised worry as he pressed himself as close to the silver bars as possible. Yugi finally let his invisibility glamor fall as you both came into view and Atem's eyes widened when he looked at him.

"What are you doing here?!" He tried to step closer to the bars, looking ready to grab Yugi and shake him for coming after him, but he hisses at the sting of silver.

"We came to rescue you!" Yugi replied innocently.

Atem turned his scolding eyes to you, then flinched slightly when he took in your very different appearance. Yugi muttered an 'oppose, forgot to drop the glamor' before waving his hand and returning you to normal. Atem was over the shock in a second.

"Neither of you should be here. If you're caught, they'll kill all three of us! I won't have either of you getting hurt because of me!"

"Oh shut up," you snapped, "have a little faith in us, Atem. Yugi's a pretty smart guy and with my help we'll be able to pull this off- as long as you don't put up a fuss." To make your words all the more firm, you folded your arms and matched his hard gaze.

In your peripherals you caught Yugi giving a smile that was almost a smirk. "You heard her, Atem, don't make a fuss. We're getting you out and that's final."

The vampire closed his eyes, and the way his fangs poked through as he sighed looked almost cute. "Fine." He opened his eyes again and looked over at the tiny window that let in a beam of afternoon sun into the hallway. "I assume you have a way to prevent me from bursting into flames the moment we step outside?"

"Yup, luckily for you sometimes magicians need to transport vampires during the day, and I know an enchantment to do that." You held up a golden ring etched with runes. "It'll only last a few hours when I activate the enchantment, but it should be more than enough to get you out." Before you could explain any more of the plan, a thunderous crash that shook the ground followed by a roar cut you off. The little dragon was finally on his way out. "That's our cue."

You raised your right hand, the seal on your palm glowing and connecting to the lock on the cell. The moment the mechanism clicked, Yugi grabbed the bars of the door and threw it open. The moment it was, you tossed the enchanted ring to the vampire and told Yugi to do his thing, just as shouting echoed down the stone hall, frantic and calling for backup to hold off the dragon. When you looked back and saw that Yugi had turned himself and Atem invisible the next phase of your plan started.

***

The dragon youngling made good on his word and wreaked so much havoc on the Sanctuary's courtyard that the hallways were practically empty as the three of you ran for it. Even the few magicians you did pass didn't spare you more than a glance, likely assuming that you were on a mission for something specific. The echoes of the invisible feet running behind you didn't even draw notice in the commotion that could be heard clearly from outside.

"Are we truly planning on simply walking out the front door?" Atem hissed behind you.

"No, it's more like the back door the way she described it," Yugi answered.

"We just need to get out of range from the Sanctuary's wards and I can teleport us out of here. Now keep quiet before someone hears us!"

To your horror, silence had just fallen between the three of you, when two figures turned a corner and almost knocked right into you. You skidded to a halt so fast you feared that the boys wouldn't be able to avoid colliding with your back. They managed not to by a hair.

"Whoa! Sorry!" the shorter of the two called.

"Oh, Mana." Your attention immediately darted up to her companion and your eyes locked with Mahad's. Your spine gave a slight shiver at how he already looked suspicious.

"Where are you off to?" he asked, trying to keep his tone gentle.

"Councilman Rhodes asked me to get something from his office, to help with the escaping dragon." Good thing you already had an excuse ready.

Mahad raised an eyebrow. Then, the horror inside your stomach screamed again as he looked behind you and narrowed his eyes. Without another word, Mahad waved his hand and chanted a familiar spell. You wanted to scream out loud as you turned, and saw Yugi's glamor fall. Both men stood there, frozen and wide-eyed and completely visible.

Mana gasped, "Atem! You were using the attack to sneak him out!" Then her face fell from surprise to confusion as she looked Yugi up and down, "Who's the incubus?"

"Atem's lover, I assume." Mahad's eyes darted from them to you and not for the first time in your life, you felt like Mahad was reading your very soul like a book. He had always been able to tell volumes about a person just by looking at them.

As you and the boys were still frozen on the spot, not knowing what to do, Mana looked up at her mentor with pleading eyes. "Master...if we turn them in, all three of them will be executed." Her eyes darted back to you, "She was just trying to do what was right!"

All you could manage was to look the man directly in his eyes. There was no chance at overpowering a skilled magician like Mahad. Your fates were in his hands now.

He held your gaze for another long moment, before he closed them and turned away. "Then I guess it is a good thing that we didn't see them. Let's go, Mana."

"Yes, sir!" the girl said, her usual cheerful manner back as she winked at you and followed her teacher down the hallway.

It took a moment to realize what just happened, but, after that moment, it really didn't surprise you. Mahad followed rules, yes, but above all else, he was a good and fair man.

"Thank you," Atem's voice called after the two magicians and Mahad actually stopped at the words.

"Take care of her. She's throwing the only life she's ever known away right now." He looked over his shoulder and gave you one final serious stare. "Even if we keep quiet, the Council will find out. You know that."

You only had to wait a second before you answered with, "I don't care."

The profound look of understanding that crossed Mahad's eyes almost caught you off guard. Perhaps he wished he could do the same as you. But a second later he and Mana resumed their walking, the latter giving you one last wave of goodbye before they turned another corner.

When you looked back at the boys to tell Yugi to cast his spell again, you jolted at how both of them were staring at you. Had they assumed you could just send them on their way and come back to the Circle without the Council discovering what you did? No, they were too smart for that assumption. More like having it said out loud made it real for them...and they seemed torn over the idea that you were giving up, well, everything for them. You didn't like the hints of guilt in their eyes.

"Come on, we got a lot of ground to cover still."

***

Teleportation spells...they just weren't your forte. But it was the best way to get plenty of distance between you and the Sanctuary while they realized what you'd done. So you just had to endure the strain of teleporting yourself and two passengers the moment you were out of the building's magical reach.

Your body hit the ground hard, the dry leaves and dirt doing little to break your fall and you heard two similar thuds come right after you before your portal closed. Letting out a groan, you rolled onto your hand's and knees, hoping there weren't too many bruises as you looked over your companions who were once again visible.

"You two okay? I've never teleported that many people."

Yugi sat up on his knees and flapped one of his wings gingerly. "I'll be okay," he winced.

Both of you looked around the forest to find Atem, and there was a strange flutter in your chest when you saw him standing in a ray of sun. The light illuminated his face, only enhancing his look of wonder as he looked up at the blue sky between the trees.

"I had heard of enchantments that allow vampires to walk in the sunlight but..." he looked back at the two of you and his smile was so happy it made your heart ache. "I never thought I would see this again."

Yugi rose from the forest floor and walked to Atem, immediately pulling him into a tight embrace, something he had likely wanted to do since he saw him in the cell. You felt a sudden wash of shame as you watched the affection, though you couldn't pinpoint why. You shouldn't blame yourself for what the Circle did...even if you were part of that very clan.

Not wanting to intrude on their proper reunion, you busied yourself with that task of finding the backpack you had stashed in the forest that morning. It was a large thing, though, quite small when one realized that it had all of your possessions stuffed inside. It wasn't as if you could go back for your things after breaking Atem out.

When you returned to where the men were they had parted from their embrace and you saw looks of worry on their faces as the peered through the trees. When they spotted you, their mutual worry eased in an instant.

"I assume you never told the council where you or Yugi live, right?" you asked before they could say anything to you.

Atem shook his head. "We should be safe, so long as they don't find it too important to track us down." He looked over at Yugi with a smirk. "Yugi actually knows how to cast a ward or two himself, and has our home protected from tracking spells."

Oh, they lived together? Interesting.

"Just small ones," Yugi muttered, cheeks red, "I don't think they'd stand up against the Circle's heavy duty spells though."

"Don't worry. The only reason they were going to kill Atem is because they thought he was part of Marik's cult and figured it was easiest to execute him. They won't waste resources tracking him down now. But they will to find me...which brings me to a favor I need to ask of you."

Atem met your eyes, looking alert, serious, and ready. "After everything you've done, you can ask anything of me."

You set your backpack down on the ground and looked down at the magician's seal branded into your palm. An ancient mark that bound you to the Circle. A mark of servitude one might say. "If I'm going to escape the Circle myself, I need this seal removed." You closed your fingers, feeling another flood of shame. "You see, this seal doesn't just help us channel our magic and let us open doors in the Sanctuary. It...It also acts as a kill switch."

"What?" Atem's dark tone made you look up at him. He suddenly looked very angry. Yugi contrasted by looking horrified.

"In the case of a rogue magician, a magician like me, the Council can cast a spell and use the seal to kill the magician. I don't think they'll do that immediately, they'll try to capture me first, but I have no doubt that they'll resort to that eventually."

Yugi took a step forward. "You told that man that you knew the Council would find out that you betrayed them. You knew that and you still..."

"It doesn't matter, especially because I think Atem can help me get rid of the seal."

"How? How can I help," he asked, sounding on the verge of desperate.

"Yesterday a vampire bit my right arm and it hurt. It hurt like hell, not how vampire bites are supposed to feel. When I asked around the most likely conclusion is that the curative on a vampire's fangs reacts to the magic in the seal." You knew your eyes must have turned pleading as you looked at Atem, but you didn't much care somehow. "I think your bite can purge the seal's enchantment from my body. If it's magic vanishes, so does my connection with the Circle."

Atem's eyes darted to your right palm, "Are you sure it'll work?"

"No. But it's the only other option besides cutting off my hand." You gave them a wry smile. "That's plan B."

Yugi scowled, "Please don't joke about that."

You closed the distance between you and the vampire and he looked almost wary as you lifted your hand, palm up, to him. "It's worth a try." Relief filled you when Atem took your hand. "I'll warn you now, I'll probably start screaming, but don't stop. If it hurts that means it's working."

"You don't know that," Atem all but snapped, but, after a moment he looked back down at your palm and sighed. "I pray this works."

He opened his mouth and his fangs flashed in the sunlight before they pierced the skin of your palm. White hot pain filled your veins almost instantly and you clamped your mouth shut in an effort not to cry out. You didn't want Atem to feel guilty for hurting you, especially with how gentle he was trying to be, but the pain was too much and you couldn't stop the shout of agony that bubbled up from your throat. Sweat gathered on your brow and your other hand clenched so hard you were sure your nails broke the skin.

Then, you felt a pair of hands cup your face. They turned your head and you saw Yugi's beyond distraught face before he locked his purple eyes with yours. And suddenly the pain seemed to fade away, slowly but surely. It was replaced by a calm kind of excitement. Not unlike the feeling you felt when he entered your dream or when he changed your appearance with his magic. Your mind went fuzzy, and you couldn't think of anything in particular. It felt like floating under a ray of sun.

Slowly, the scene came back to you. A dull ache throbbed in your right palm as hands rubbed it and your arm with reassuring care. A wave of dizziness overtook your body and you stumbled, only to be caught in two pairs of strong arms.

"We've got you," Yugi said as they lowered you to the ground gently.

"Does it still hurt?" Atem asked as neither dared to let go of you yet.

You managed to find your voice after a few moments. "Believe it or not, it hurt worse when they gave me the mark."

Yugi looked disgusted. "And they call _us_ the monsters."

You became aware that Atem was still gently stroking your palm with his thumb. You looked down, and you almost wanted to cry in relief when you saw that the seal was nothing but a faint pink scar now.

"I think it worked," Atem confirmed.

After a minute you managed to regain some of your strength and as you did you got the urge to remove yourself from their embrace. It felt odd to be part of such affection, though the moment you sat up, you missed the comfort.

"Thank you, Atem. This will make running from the Circle much easier." After giving the vampire a smile, you looked over at Yugi, almost amused as you remembered how Yugi had done something in the midst of your pain. "Did you use your seduction magic on me?"

As his eyes widened his face flushed, "I didn't fully seduce you! I just...you were in so much pain, I thought I could use it to block it out of your mind. It seemed to work too."

"I'm not upset. Thank you, it made all of that a lot easier."

Still with a hint of the blush, Yugi smiled back at you. Silence settled for a moment, and you knew the longer you were with them, the harder it would be to part. Damn it, why did being with them just feel so....

"You two need to get home. The enchantment on Atem's ring won't last forever and you'll want to be somewhere safe when it runs out."

When you stood up both men jumped to their feet as well, Atem actually stepping in front of you. "What do you mean 'you two'? You're coming as well."

"What? No, I shouldn't."

"Yes you should!" Yugi insisted, "You need a place to stay, stay with us!"

Your mouth opened and closed a few time, resembling a fish as you tried to think of a good reason to deny them. Then again, did you really want to?

Atem put a hand on your upper arm, "Please, stay with us. We need to look out for each other now."

A moment of contemplation. "I...o-okay. I'll stay for a while."

"Yes!" Yugi cheered, "It's settled then," he plucked your backpack from the ground and slung it over his shoulder. "Since you're still pretty shaken up from Atem's bite I'll fly us there."

"Wait, what?" your face felt drained all of the sudden. You had been in the air a few times, but somehow the imagery of this incubus trying to carry both you and Atem while flying made you fearful.

"Don't worry," Atem assured with a smile, "Yugi is stronger than he looks, he won't let you fall."

As the incubus gathered a vampire in one arm and a magician in the other you said, "But I'm just not a big fan of flyING-!" your voice pitched into something like a scream as he flapping his wings and shot into the air.

Life was certainly going to be more interesting with these two.


	3. Three:Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally done with the new part! Hope you guys like where I take this story, I'm very excited to keep writing it!   
If you want to check out some fanart of Vampire Atem and Incubus Yugi check out this post on my tumblr page https://deejadabbles.tumblr.com/post/186854709774/vampire-atem-and-incubus-yugi-for-a-fanfic-im

It was a hunt like any other. You had been on the Marik case for a while and had tracked down a few of his follower's hideouts. There wasn't any reason for you to assume this night would be any different.

It was, and you knew that the moment you approached the abandoned house and heard the unmistakable sounds of a fight. The scene was already bloody when you busted the door open, two vampires were down, and the man who must have done it had a third by the throat. Absurdly, the wild hair caught your attention before his blood-soaked form. Red coated his right arm and the hole in the chest of one vampire left little mystery as to why.

He must have not considered the one he had by the throat a threat at all, because he glanced over his shoulder at you with an almost lazy look. The eyes. Even if you weren't an expert in recognizing his kind, you would have known he was a vampire as well.

"This does not concern you, magician. Leave this trash to me."

His voice was almost innately husky, but that was an observation you had made later because, in that moment, his words sent a shot of annoyance through you.

"Back off, I'm here on official Circle business and you're killing all my witnesses. Stand down," you snapped your fingers and a flame came alive in your hand, "or I'll take you out too."

Something you couldn't define flashed in his eyes, but only for a moment, before his gaze and whole demeanor sharpened in an instant. You had sensed it a second later. More vampires. Closing in fast.

The one crazy-hair had by the throat laughed. "Oh, you bitches are gonna get it now!"

And just like that, you and the vampire you later would know as Atem were a united force. An unspoken truce sparked and when the cultist reinforcements came crashing in, the pair of you were ready for them.

Who knew that crossroad would lead to here?

Out of everything you'd done in the last day or two, clutching to Yugi like a cat to a tree as he soared through the air had to be one of, if not _the_ most terrifying. You wanted to trust that Yugi would not drop you, just as Atem had tried to assure, but you just couldn't help but scream internally the whole time.

So, when he finally touched down on sweet, solid, motionless ground, you wanted to cry out in relief.

Pride wouldn't allow that, of course, so you simply staggered away from your two new companions and silently got your bearings back; saying your prayers of thanks inwardly.

"A-are you okay?" came Yugi's unsure voice, "I'm sorry if I gave you motion sickness, I was trying to keep the jostling down to a minimum!"

"It's fine," you answered, wanting to give him a smile, but opted not to in case it looked forced or pained. Instead, you took another deep breath, then finally straightened up and took in your new surroundings.

You had landed in a backyard by the looks of it. A tall privacy fence walled it and the building before you in. The building was tall, three stories, but narrower than most homes. A small porch with a wooden swing seat led to sliding double doors. The green roofs and awnings, yellow brick, and star-patterned curtains hung in the windows gave it an overall 'cute' look.

"It's nice," you all but blurted. "Your home, I mean. It's nice."

You heard Atem step up beside you and when you looked out of the corner of your eye, you saw him giving you that gentle smile that eased the sharpness of his features. "You should consider it your home as well now."

"Want the grand tour?" Yugi asked as he joined your other side. "Most of the first floor is actually our shop, so I can show you around both if you want."

While you were trying to think of an answer, you noticed that Atem looked down at the ring you had enchanted to protect him from the sun. He then looked up at the sky with an expression that you could only describe as longing crossing his face. Yugi's face fell slightly as he noticed as well and both of you were left staring at the vampire.

"How long with your enchantment work?" Atem asked after a moment.

"Should be good for another hour or so. I tried to make sure it could last you until sunset if needed."

Another stretch of silence, then, "Could we stay out here for a while longer? I... I haven't watched the sunset in so long, I'd like to watch it with both of you, if that's alright."

Yugi smiled at him so sweetly that you could actually feel the deep affection pass between the two. Then, when he turned that look on you, something strange surged in your chest. It felt so odd, almost wrong to be included in such sweet affection, but that wasn't all of what you felt.

"Alright," the answer came easily, almost too easily. "I haven't watched the sunset in a long time either, and the ring should last you until then."

"We should be able to see if from the porch swing," Yugi suggested, still smiling as he ushered both of you onto said porch.

The swing looked like it could only fit three if you were closely squished together, so you automatically opted to stand against the porch railing instead. You crossed your arms, leaned your head against the support beam, and kept your gaze fixed on the horizon as the two men settled down behind you. You only glance behind for a moment to make sure you weren't obscuring their view, before turning back and letting your mind wander as the vampire had his moment in the sun.

Both of them seemed very keen on you staying with them indefinitely, but you just weren't sure if you could do that. Then again, did you really have any other option? There were many reasons why magicians rarely left the circle, and part of that was because they would have no support or means of living if they did. You had no job or experience in anything other than hunting and investigating rogue fey, not to mention as far as the human world was concerned, you didn't exist. Magicians didn't exactly carry ID cards or social security numbers with them.

You looked down at your right palm, the pink scar where the Circle's Seal had been staring back at you. It still throbbed a little but the pain was minor and it reminded you that your chain to the Circle was severed now. You were free to do whatever you wanted.

So why was your mind already falling back to your investigation into Marik? Heh, you supposed a magic seal was easier break from than the only lifestyle you had known.

A gentle call of your name made you turn your head and you saw Yugi looking at you with a question in his eyes. Atem, who was resting his head on Yugi's shoulder, looked at you with a similar expression. It was such an innocent scene, you found yourself thinking, one of Yugi's wings slightly cupping Atem, their hands intertwined.

"Are you okay?" Yugi asked after a moment.

You managed to give him a smile, "I'm just thinking. Don't worry about me, you two need to enjoy the sunset while you can." Before either could waste more of this special moment worrying about you, you turned forward again and kept your eyes on the skyline, blocking any more conversation.

It really was a beautiful sunset.

***

Yugi did end up giving you a tour of their home. The back door led into an entry hall of sorts, with shoe and coat racks, another door that went into the shop Yugi ran, and a staircase leading up to the residential area above. Those stairs immediately opened up into a living room with a kitchenette off of it. There was a hallway off of the kitchen with a door on either side and another steep, narrow set of stairs to the third floor at the end. Apparently there were two bedrooms on the third floor, but they hadn't been used for more than storage since Yugi's grandfather, the original owner, passed.

"We can set up one of the rooms upstairs for you," Yugi offered, "We just have to move some stuff around and make sure that old mattress is still okay to sleep on."

You shuffled your feet, avoiding his earnest gaze, "You don't have to go to any trouble, the couch is fine." The words were barely out when you felt a hand on your shoulder and you turned to see Atem looking at you with reassurance.

"It's no trouble. I'll work on arranging everything for you while Yugi makes dinner."

"At least let me help you," you insisted as he headed for the third-floor staircase.

As Yugi went to the kitchen to start on the promised meal, you set your backpack down by the couch for safekeeping and started to go after Atem.

"I hope you like burgers," Yugi called out as he pulled down a skillet from a shelf, "it'll be nice to have someone else who actually eats with me. I can never get used to how Atem doesn't need regular food." He chuckled and the tone of his last sentence said he had said it to himself more than anything.

When he turned to get something else for dinner, he was surprised to see you stating there. Wait, when had you stopped by the kitchen? Weren't you heading down the hall just a second ago?

Yugi looked just as confused as you felt. "Weren't you going to go help Atem? I'm fine cooking by myself," he smiled to assure you he didn't need any help, but it faltered when he saw your lost expression.

"I... I was going to help him. I thought I was walking towards the stairs then..."

Yugi's face went a bit pale, "Oh no."

"What?"

He swallowed a lump in his throat, then started scratching the back of his head as he avoided your gaze. "Umm, you know how I used my seduction magic on you to help with your pain earlier? Well, I think you're experiencing some...uh...side effects."

With a groan, you smacked your palm to your head. "Of course. I'm acting on a subconscious need to be close to you. Hell, I'm surprised I didn't try to hold your hand or something."

"I think it's only a minor need," Yugi insisted looking very abashed as his eyes darted up to you with the look of a sad puppy. "I'm sorry. I swear I wasn't trying to actually seduce you or anything. I didn't think you'd have any side effects..."

Your heart clenched at the sight of his upset sate and you weren't sure if it was the seduction magic or something else that made you want to put your arms around him. You waved your hand in an effort to deny the want as well as alleviate Yugi's guilt. "It's fine, Yugi, I know you didn't do it on purpose, you were just trying to help me. It should wear off soon, right? Until then, just don't blame me if I end up standing too close or hugging you or something."

He gave a soft smiled at the words, big violet eyes saying a silent 'thank you'. You had to get out of there -like now- before you did something stupid.

You turned on your heel, "I'm going to help Atem now. Thank you for making dinner, Yugi."

***

After having spent all of his recent days with you in mortal peril, Atem found this hour with you to be rather...special. It didn't take long to set up the room for your indefinite stay but he enjoyed the simple work and casual talk you two shared. Atem insisted on leaving the doors and windows open to air out the dust and got you clean pillows and linens to sleep with. The storage boxes had been piled into the closet and third bedroom, so as to not make you feel cluttered. You two had just gotten your bed made when Yugi called up saying dinner was done.

Atem also had to admit that it felt nice having someone else there for mealtimes. Not that he didn't enjoy the simple domestic alone time with Yugi before, but it simply felt...right to have you there, conversing with them and getting to know each other. Though he already knew he liked you immensely, it was still quite a welcomed change to talk about one another without the fear of execution hanging over his head.

After food (and you insisting on washing the dishes for them) Atem could tell that Yugi was on the verge of falling asleep right there and wondered if he should insist on everyone going to bed given the trials of the day.

"Neither of us got much sleep last night and my endurance potions can only go so far," you told him in a low tone, peeking over the kitchen island to look at Yugi as his lids drifted open and closed at a tired pace.

When you let out a long yawn Atem put his hand on your shoulder, "You need some rest as well. Teleporting us all that way, not to mention the physical exertion of having your seal removed can't have been easy on you."

"I'm fi-fine-" another yawn that Atem couldn't help but chuckle at. He might have compared you to a tired kitten if he didn't think the words would earn him a death glare. Or worse.

"Go on to bed, my friend. I'll finish cleaning up and take care of Yugi."

"I'm not a kid, you know," Yugi called from the dining table, but even the scolding sounded half-hearted.

Atem did not miss the way you smiled at the incubus' tired claim, the gesture softening your features for a precious moment.

"Alright, you win," you conceded as you handed him the dishtowel, even giving him a pat on the shoulder as you passed. "Goodnight you two."

"Goodnight! If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask, okay?" Yugi called after you, trying to hold in a yawn of his own.

After finishing the cleanup, Atem took Yugi's hands in his own and gently pulled him to their bedroom. The vampire thought they would have a nice, peaceful remainder to their night, but, as he took off his jewelry at the vanity, a low toned claim from Yugi made his whole body tense.

"You're not going to stop hunting Marik, are you?"

Atem looked at the incubus sitting on the bed, his tail and wings drooping, eyes fixed on the ground and body held so tightly he looked as if he was trying to shield himself from hurt. In all the time he had known Yugi, Atem was sure this moment was the most he had ever looked fragile.

"Yugi..."

"She told me. The message you asked her to give me when you thought you were going to die? She gave it to me. You said you were sorry for letting your need for revenge put you in that much danger. But you aren't going to stop, even now, are you?"

Atem let out a resigned sigh as he sat down on the bed beside Yugi. He took the younger man's hand in his own, giving a gentle squeeze. "I can't, Yugi. He's here in Domino and I can't let him escape, not this time."

"But why?!" Yugi turned his hurt-filled, tired eyes on him, "you don't _have_ to go after him, the magicians are hunting him too, let them handle it. Atem-" Yugi's voice cracked and Atem felt a swell of self-loathing in his chest for bringing his love to tears. "What if next time it isn't the Circle who try to kill you?" he whispered, "I c-can't lose you, Atem."

He pulled Yugi into a tight embrace, wishing he could chase the tears away with sheer will power. He ran his fingers through Yugi's hair as he said, "You won't lose me. You especially won't now that we aren't alone." When Yugi pulled back and gave him a questioning look, Atem elaborated, "I know she's free to do whatever she wants now that she's free of the circle, but something tells me that she will continue her hunt for Marik as well. If she is, we can do it together. We can stop his killing and tormenting _together_."

After staring back at him for a moment, Yugi let out a defeated sigh and leaned against his chest. "I know I can't stop you. Just promise me you'll be careful and you'll let me help too."

"I promise, Aibou," to lighten the mood he kissed Yugi's temple and said, "I dare say I can't do anything without your help anymore."

"Got that right," Yugi replied but Atem heard the smile in his tone.

They stayed like that for a few long, much needed minutes, simply holding each other. Atem thought Yugi might have fallen asleep, until he shifted and looked towards the door with a questioning gaze. A second later Atem noticed it too, just as Yugi got up and walked to the door. He opened it, revealing you, curled up and still fast asleep at the threshold to their bedroom.

"Oh no," Yugi sighed, kneeling down by you as he whispered, "I was worried about this. She's still experiencing the side effects of my magic and must have slept walked here to get close to me."

Atem joined your side as Yugi brushed the back of his hand along your cheek. Your breaths were coming slow and even, looking perfectly content despite the hard floor beneath you. The sight was actually quite cute.

"Should I carry her back to her room?" Atem whispered as well, not wanting to disturb you.

Yugi shrugged, "She'll probably just sleepwalk to our door again."

"Well, we can't just leave her here on the ground."

The incubus looked to the vampire with an almost timid suggestion in his eyes, "There's always a third option..."

***

You weren't sure if an entire floor and a bedroom door were enough to block out Atem and Yugi's demonic auras, but you weren't taking the chance. You trusted both of them, but your sleeping mind might still call out danger when sensing them so close by and you couldn't take another restless night of sleep. You only had one sleeping draft left in your stock but it was well worth it to knock yourself out for the night.

Your dreams were pleasant that night. Soft hands holding yours, warmth wrapping around your body like a cozy blanket; the comfort of companionship. Comfort you didn't know how to handle in the real world, but here in dreams, you let it wash over you like a cleansing tide. Was this what home felt like?

The world came creeping back in at a snail's pace and this time you didn't quite dread the mornings like you usually did. You don't think you had ever remembered having such a good night's sleep.

Of course, your blissful moment started to fade when you became more and more aware of the fact that someone was sleeping beside you.

Your eyes snapped open and you sucked in a shocked breath when you saw Yugi's peaceful sleeping face next to yours. He was a respectful distance from you, at least considering what little room there was for distance on the bed. Still, your face felt like it was on fire when you realized you had one hand placed on his chest and the other set firmly on his hip. Not just that. Atem was asleep in the bed too, laying with his chest to Yugi's back, tucked between the incubus' wings and his hand gently resting over yours on Yugi's hip.

Apparently, the sleeping draft had not knocked out your subconscious need to be tucked in Yugi's arms. After a string of mental curses and colorful exclamations, you decided it was best to try slipping out before either of them woke.

At a painfully slow pace, you started moving your hand out from under Atem's, freezing when he or Yugi seemed on the verge of stirring and waiting a bit before moving again. Finally, your hand was free and you started shimming backward to slide out from under the warm, inviting blankets and off of the soft bed.

When you were completely 'free' and started tiptoeing towards the door you heard Yugi make a pouty grumbling noise. You peeked behind you to see him still asleep as he threw his arm over the spot you had been and bury his face into the sheets with another grumble; Atem silently scooting closer to him a second later.

Once you had closed their door behind you and you were safe in the hallway, you let out a sigh. You didn't know if they were awake when you came to them or not, but you were determined not to have that particular awkward conversation. You weren't even sure what time it was because of the thick curtains over every window, but you did see some sunlight around the edges.

With another sigh, you decided that a shower was in order and made your way to the bathroom across the hall. Yugi had hung a spare towel out for you the night before, he and Atem sure were thoughtful hosts. The hot water felt refreshing and you relaxed under the feel of it. You hadn't had your own body wash or shampoo to bring so you had to hope the boys wouldn't mind you using some of theirs. The body wash had a pleasant, light scent to it that reminded you of herbs or woods, while the shampoo had a fresh clean smell.

The scent made you remember what it had felt like to have both of them hold you in their arms as you tried to keep from fainting the day before. You hadn't noticed the scent at the time, focusing more on the pulsating pain from your hand, but it must have stuck into the back of your mind. You lifted your hand, once again examining the scar of your seal. In some ways, you still couldn't believe that the connection had been severed. For years it bound you to the Circle, claimed you as one of their own, and ensured your place in the world. The mere sight of it could strike fear and panic into the hearts of most fey. So much of your life revolves around the symbol, why then, did it feel so natural and easy to be rid of it?

You were jolted out of your thoughts when a knock and a gentle call of your name came from the door. "Please take as much time as you'd like, I simply wanted to ask if you were alright with having pancakes for breakfast?" Atem asked, sounding a bit sheepish for some reason. "Yugi would also like to know if you're alright with chocolate chips in them."

"Y-yes, that fine, I'll be out in a bit," you called back.

When you were sure he wasn't going to say anything else, you let out a small sigh. You didn't want to dwell on the past too much, but, at the same time, you were worried that adjusting to this new life would be difficult, no matter how natural it seemed right now.

After drying off and putting on fresh clothes for the day, you stepped into the kitchen to see if Yugi needed any help with breakfast. Atem was sitting at the kitchen island, reading a newspaper while drinking something from a coffee cup. A quick glance at the red liquid confirmed that it was blood, likely from a pig or cow courtesy of a butcher.

Yugi, who was standing at the stove humming to himself, greeted you with a smile and cheerful, "Good morning! We weren't sure what you wanted to drink, but there's juice and milk in the fridge, and I think there's some coffee up in the cabinet somewhere if you'd rather have that."

"Juice is fine," you assured, not wanting him to go to any trouble. "Do you need any help with food?"

"Nope, I got it! You can sit down and relax." He gave you a closed-eyed smile before going to the fridge for something, his tail swishing happily behind him.

When you took the stool beside Atem he tossed his newspaper away and shifted in his seat, turning to face you more. He seemed to want to talk about something, but scratched the back of his neck and didn't quite meet your eyes as he said, "Um, about this morning-"

"I'm sorry, I didn't even realize I came into your room in my sleep until I woke up this morning," you blurted out, not wanting either of them to get the wrong idea.

"No, no, it's alright. We know you weren't in control, we just..." he cleared his throat and Yugi jumped in to save his red-faced vampire, though he seemed only a notch-less bashful.

"We didn't want to leave you on the floor all night, that's why he put you in the bed. I hope you...uh...didn't think we had any bad intentions or...uh...anything."

"Of course not," you assured, desperately wishing this conversation was over. "It was all just a big, weird, situation, it's fine." You took a drink of the juice Yugi had given you, hoping that was the end of that. Just in case, when you swallowed the drink- and the lump in your throat, you moved the conversation along to another topic entirely. "There's something else I wanted to tell you two. I want you to know that I'm still going to investigate the Marik case."

You saw the boys exchange a look. You couldn't quite discern it, but you knew it was quite meaningful, especially with how tense Yugi seemed to be all of the sudden.

"I am as well," Atem said as he broke eye contact with Yugi and looked back at you. "In fact, I was hoping you would be willing to find him together."

That really shouldn't have come as a shock, but it still took you a moment to reply. "Alright, if that's what you want." For about the dozenth time since you'd met Atem, you found yourself wondering why he was so hell-bent on finding Marik. But, like all the other dozen times, you figured it was too prying to ask.

"Won't investigating the case draw the attention of the Circle?" Yugi asked with caution, "You said they shouldn't be able to find you now, but you might run into them if both you and them are tracking Marik down."

"Not necessarily." You allowed yourself a bit of a smug smile as you said, "Part of the reason I'm usually put on the most wanted vampire cases is because I've built connections and channels other magicians haven't."

Atem met your smile with his own, thought a question again playing in his eyes as he said, "It's obvious that you're remarkably experienced in hunting vampires, but you're so young..."

You shrugged, the smugness fading a bit, "I've been doing this for a long time. The Circle starts their training young. Really young."

"Don't tell me they go around recruiting children," Yugi said, and you didn't miss the undertones of disgust in his words.

"Recruiting isn't really the right word," you sighed. "I, like most of the magicians, was born into service under the circle. My mother was a magician and any maician working for the Circle pretty much hands their child over to the council the moment they're born. We grow up in the Sanctuary with other kids our age and aren't taught anything about the outside world that doesn't involve hunting fey. Combat training and teachings of the fey world starts as soon as possible and eventually, we're given a choice." You looked down at your palm, remembering the pain of the brand that sealed your life to the Circle. "Part of the reason magician almost always stay with the Circle is because they make us choose. We can pledge our loyalty to the Circle and they give us the magician's seal, or, we refuse and they throw us out into a world we know nothing about with no money or family to support us."

Silence followed your words. At the time, when the 'choice' had been given to you, you thought it normal. There was no other frame of reality that you knew to tell you how manipulative and abusive such a life was. In fact, you had only come to that conclusion barely more than a year ago, and here you were in your twenties.

"How old are you when they give you this so-called 'choice'?" Atem asked, sounding like he was barely keeping anger under the surface. You knew it wasn't directed at you, but you still felt a wash of shame on behalf of your old masters.

"Fourteen."

Another thing that had seemed normal to you for years. Fourteen was a fine age to be forced into servitude and trained to kill, wasn't it? You had thought that, until years of seeing the real world and how it worked made you realize that such a way of thinking belonged in the dark ages. Ages where fourteen was considered an adult because the average person didn't live much past forty if that. This time last year you might have said 'that's normal, isn't it?' or tried to rationalize it away, but not now.

"That's just sick," Yugi muttered under his breath and you knew he was remembering how much you said the brand had hurt when they gave it to you. "Fourteen, and do they even wait long before they put up against an actual, dangerous fey?"

"No. Your first field mission is usually a month after pledging your loyalty." You regretted the words almost as soon as you said them, given the horrified look in Yugi's eyes, and Atem's deliberately stony expression. Maybe you should have added that they at least give you a mentor on those mission for a while, but you didn't figure it would help much. You didn't want them to pity you, so, trying for a bit of black humor that might move the conversation along you shrugged and said, "But at least being pitted against bloodthirsty fey at a young age was good for one thing. Like I said I have a few connections that might help us find Marik. I actually have one in mind."

Thankfully, Atem must have sensed that you didn't want to talk about that line of conversation anymore, because, after a moment where Atem closed his eyes and took in a deep breath (and Yugi forced himself to go back to cooking), he asked, "Who?"

"He's a ghoul that lives in the slums on the other side of the city. He tends to keep his ears low and picks up on other fey doing shading things. A cowardly little creep, but I've kept the Council off his back a few times, so he's willing to help me when I need it. Especially after a bit of...persuasion."

As Yugi set a stack of pancakes in front of you and took a seat on your other side, Atem asked, "Are you willing to wait until nightfall to visit him? That way I might come as well?"

"I prefer it, actually. He usually has his guard lowered at night since he's more vulnerable during the day. We can go together tonight."

"Great!" Yugi chimed in after swallowing a bite of fluffy pancakes, "That means I'll have the shop closed by then and I can come too." When you and Atem looked round at him, he gave a very sassy looking raise of his eyebrow. "What, you honestly think I'm going to let you two go after this psycho by yourselves again after what happened last time? No way!"

He took another bite of his food and with a chuckle you finally let yourself dig into the breakfast as well. Atem only smiled at Yugi's words. A while of comfortable silenced passed and you were just about done eating before Yugi brought up his own question.

"Since we aren't going until night, do you think you could help me in the shop today?"

"Of course," you answered finishing off the last of your food, "I'm staying here after all, I don't mind helping out."

"Awesome!" His bright smile was back in place again, "It will give us a chance to get to know each other, besides, I've got a few magical objects that you might be able to help me identify."

"You two better get to it then, I'll clean up here," Atem said as he took your plates.

As he did, something on his finger caught your attention. You hadn't noticed until now but...Atem was still wearing the enchanted ring you gave him. Even though its magic had run out long ago it was still there among his other adornment. You didn't have much time to dwell on the discovery though, because you were soon heading downstairs with Yugi to start your day.

***

You had not seen the actual shop last night, nor the front of the building, so you were quite intrigued when Yugi led you into the magical store. It was...cute. Cozy in a somehow adorable way. Shelves full of books on tarot reading, herbalism, Wicca, and numerous other things covered the entirety of the right wall. Display cases sporting handmade wands, athames, pagan statues, crystals, and stones sat on the opposing side. A counter with an old register, as well as small tables holding candles, incense, and other nick-nacks filled the center of the room.

Yugi told you that he mostly catered to white witches; humans who dabbled in fortune-telling, herbalism, and all manner of occult matters, but he had a few regulars who were actual creatures of the night. "Those are the customers that I let into the back room," he had said with a wink as he snapped his fingers and his incubus features disappeared from view, leaving him looking just as human as you.

The first thing you helped him with was the store's opening procedure. He led you outside carrying a wooden sandwich sign that looked rather old. It had a carving of three boxes with question marks on them and knives protruding from the sides of said boxes. The shop's name was scrawled above it in raised red letters: 'The Mystic Box'. Eager to help, you grabbed the display table of discounted items that Yugi said he always sat outside to draw attention and carried it out as he set up the sign.

Once out there, you instantly took notice to the neighboring shop- or rather, the people working there. I was a salon, and three women, two of them smoking, stood outside and seemed to be paying quite a bit of attention to Yugi.

"Morning, Yugi!" called the short blonde one, "You look as good as ever!"

"Go-good morning," he replied, barely giving the now giggling women a wave.

"Who's your friend?" another asked, eyeing you with genuine curiosity.

"An old friend. She's going to be living with us and helping out around the shop for a while," Yugi answered in a flash.

After setting up the table, you turned to see Yugi was still fiddling with the old hinges of the sign. He sighed and kneeled down to see what was snagged and you were about to help him out, but hesitated when you took notice of the slight change in the women's demeanors. They were biting their lips and giggling at each other, making odd hand gestures as they looked down at- Oh for god sake, they were drooling over Yugi's butt! By the furrow of his brow and the tenseness of his shoulders, Yugi knew it and wasn't at all comfortable with the lewd staring.

You let out an annoyed huffed and stepped between Yugi's turned back and the women, crossing your arms and giving them a very cold look. Admiring another's body was one thing, but these girls were no better than catcalling construction workers. Each of them gave you some version of a disappointed glare or impatient muttering, not appreciating you ruining their fun.

Yugi quickly fixed the sign and stood, saying a dismissive "See you later, ladies," as you two walked back inside the shop.

"Bye Yugi!" they called in unison, still acting like schoolgirls with their giggling.

Your arms were still crossed as Yugi shut the door behind him, flipped the sign in the window to 'open', and walked over to the cash register. "You didn't have to do that," he said, sounding half appreciative, half embarrassed. "They do that almost every morning, I'm used to it."

You shrugged, "Doesn't mean you should be used to it. Just because you're handsome doesn't give them the right to make you uncomfortable."

To your surprise, Yugi's eyes widened slightly, and the corner of his mouth twitched into a smile. Realizing what you had just called him, you felt your heart sink and you turned away before he could say anything about the compliment.

"S-so where are these magical items you wanted to show me?"

Time passed with relative ease. Yugi spent over an hour with you in the storage room, pulling out this antique or that to ask your advice on. Apparently his grandfather had done quite a bit of traveling in his youth and collected so many things for his shop, that Yugi had no hope of hearing the story behind each of them before his grandpa passed away, even given the long lifespan incubi had. In the end you were able to tell him that he had a Buddhist statue that was made to seal away an evil spirit and had yet to be filled (quite a valuable find for the right shaman), a set a robes imbued with the remnants of an old protection enchantment, a dagger that had some sort of bloodletting curse attached to it (you assured a very nervous looking Yugi you could break the curse with ease), and a pile of pretty, but none-magical items.

Customers came and went. You found most of them quite nice and almost all of them called Yugi by name, chatting as they browsed or mentioned some past conversation as they paid. Just about everyone asked who you were and you two gave the same explanation Yugi had to the salon women, though you actually ended up speaking to a few of the customers. It was a nice, quiet day. You can't remember ever having one like it, which made you happy and anxious at the same time somehow.

It was a little past six now and business was slow, a customer not having come in for almost an hour. Since you had already helped restock some candles and incense, there wasn't much else to do. So, standing at the counter with Yugi chatting, you found yourself asking the question that had been burning in your mind since you met him.

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you and Atem meet anyways?"

Yugi gave a small hum, seeming to recall the memory. "It was quite a few years ago, he actually saved my life." When you gave him an interested look he continued. "See, a troll had...uh...taken a liking to me. He planned to use some kind of dark magic to make me loyal to him, but Atem came just in time. There had been rumors circulating Domino for a while that there was some mysterious guy who prowled the streets at night and saved people from getting mugged or attacked, but I didn't believe it until then. After he saved me I just kind of..I don't know, he seemed so lonely, I went out of my way to get to know him and eventually, he let me in."

There had been a number of mixed emotions in Yugi's eyes as he told the story, some of which you couldn't really identify, but you knew it had been a special time in Yugi's life. Suddenly, the eyes that had been staring off as he recalled the memory darted to yours.

"I could show you, if you want," he suggested, sounding almost unsure. When your attentive look turned questioning he simply shrugged. "When I was- you know, going through your memories, I saw how you and Atem met, I guess I thought that it was only fair that I show you how we met."

You considered it for a moment. You had never had one of his kind project thoughts or images into your head, but, if Yugi's little stunt with Keith yesterday proved anything, it was that Yugi knew that aspect of his powers well. You actually smiled a bit, not just at the memory of what he had done to Keith, but at something else. Yugi so readily suggesting to share something that intimate with you. It felt nice.

"Alright, if you don't mind sharing."

Yugi nodded his head with a small smile of his own, before taking the only step of space between you and placing his fingers on your temples. He closed his eyes and whispered for you to do the same. It was only a moment after you did, that you felt his magic take hold. Your mind's eye filled with images, but not just that, they surrounded you, engulfed you like they were your own memories playing back in real-time.

_The scene of a dark room, a large shed or garage possibly, came into view, and you heard heavy, pained panting along with someone rummaging through the contents of a box or crate. The one responsible for the breathing was Yugi and seeing as how these were his memories, the panting almost felt like your own. He was struggling against something and you realized that he had binding chains around his wrists. His eyes scanned the room and landed on the creature making the impatient noises._

_It was a troll alright, his size, along with the rank smell revealed that instantly. He was digging through a chest and after a moment seemed to find what he was looking for. He pulled out a glass bottle with blue, glowing contents and the troll smiled a crooked, sickening smile._

_"Here we are. One drink 'a this and you'll be my toy forever."_

_"Let me go!" Yugi shouted back, trying to sound confident, "No matter what you force me to drink it'll wear off and when it does-"_

_"You'll what, tiny?" the troll taunted as he came more fully into view. Damn he was ugly, and you wanted to punch that sick smirk off his face and keep punching at the way he leered down at Yugi. "I've met sex demons that can use their magic to do some harm, but what're you gonna do? You're nothing but a scrawny, weak, little-"_

_He didn't finish the string of insults, because his head jerked to the right as a very, very faint sound could be heard, like the breaking of glass. The troll cursed under his breath and went to investigate the noise. Only a second later did he come back- as he was tossed to the other side of the room like a ragdoll! Yugi flinched as the troll crashed into a wooden table and the bottle of potion went flying somewhere._

_The next moment a third party came into view: Atem, sparing nothing more than a glance at the troll before he walked over to Yugi. The incubus flinched at his approach and Atem's posture changed from a taut kind of concentration, to something more calming as he held up his hands._

_"It's alright, I'm not going to hurt you," the vampire said in a soothing tone._

_Before he could try approaching Yugi again, the troll was on his feet and closing in fast. Atem was ready. He turned on his heel, ducked, and drove his fist into the attacker's belly; landing his own blow while avoiding the right hook of the troll. He was lucky that he had vampire strength, any lesser creature would have broken their hands against the hard muscles. Again the troll was sent flying back, but he kept upright and recovered from the blow quickly, letting out a growl at the vampire._

_"Back off, he's mine!"_

_"He isn't property," Atem yelled back and charged at the beast._

_The troll tried for another punch but the vampire dodged, grabbing the arm that swung at him and bringing it down on his knee with a sick **crack**. The kidnapper roared in pain but Atem did not waste any time in landing a sharp blow at his throat. Yugi closed his eyes in that moment, so you couldn't see what happened next, but there was a momentary choking sound, followed by another crack, then silence._

_A moment later footsteps were heard, Yugi reopened his eyes and looked up at Atem who was standing over him._

_"Are you alright, little one?" he asked in a kind voice._

_Even though he, like all vampires, did not age, you couldn't help but this that this was a different version of Atem in someway. He wore all leather, including some buckled boots and a collar around his neck. The only thing that seemed similar to the style of the Atem you knew, was the makeup around his eyes._

_"Y-yes I'm okay," Yugi replied, still shaken, "he didn't hurt me too bad." His eyes flickered to the motionless body, "Is he...?"_

_"Not dead, but don't worry, even a troll can't recover from that very easily. I don't think he'll be able to bother you or anyone again. Come, let's get those chains off of you."_

_Atem kneeled, keeping his eyes on Yugi's face, as if searching for any sign of discomfort as he reached out and broke the chains clean off with his bare hands. You felt the odd tingle in Yugi's chest at the display of power, and the gentle way Atem took Yugi's hands and pulled him to his feet._

_It was only when Atem seemed to notice, that you yourself realized that Yugi was shirtless. Atem looked away and immediately took off his leather jacket, only to put it around Yugi's shoulders._

_"Let me walk you home," the vampire suggested._

_The scene faded for a moment, turning to haze before coming back into focus and revealing a scene of the two men walking down a dark street. Yugi kept stealing glances at the vampire beside him and cleared his throat before introducing himself._

_"I'm Yugi, by the way. Can I have the name of the man who saved me?"_

_"Atem," he replied, softly, though he still kept his gaze on the sidewalk ahead of them._

_Again Yugi cleared his throat, "You're the vigilante everyone's been talking about, aren't you?"_

_"People talk about me?" Atem asked, finally looking over at the incubus._

_"Yup, you've been making an impression on everyone around here, especially in the fey community. My grandpa kept thinking you were a fey, but who knew you'd be a vampire."_

_"Did you assume one of my kind would never go out of their way to help someone?"_

_Yugi's face went hot and he stopped in his tracks as he stammered a reply, "N-no! I didn't assume that! It's just that I- I've never met a vampire before so-"_

_A chuckle cut Yugi off and when he looked up at Atem, he was smirking at him. "It's alright, little one, I was only joking."_

_After a moment where Yugi breathed a sigh of relief, the two started walking again._

_"So how long have you been doing this whole vigilante thing?"_

_"Since I arrived in Domino last winter. There's no need to call me a vigilante, however. I am merely doing what I think is right."_

_Yugi seemed like he wanted to say that that was almost the definition of the word, but eventually let it slide. "Well still, it's nice to know someone's out there looking out for people. Just don't be surprised if everyone starts calling you Batman," he giggled at his own comment._

_Atem actually scoffed at the words, "'Batman'? Honestly, I have no idea where the rumor that vampires turn into bats came from, but I assure you it isn't true."_

_"Huh? No, Batman as in the character from..." When Atem only turned a questioning look on Yugi the young man just shook his head, amused and said, "Never mind." This vampire apparently wasn't a comic book fan._

_The two finally came to a stop in front of the shop and home, causing them to face each other in goodbye. Yugi started to take the jacket off and hand it back to Atem, but the vampire simply raised his hand._

_"Keep it. It suits you."_

_Again, warmth crept onto Yugi's face, "Thank you again for saving me. I'm not sure what I would have done if you hadn't..."_

_Atem closed his eyes and gave a slight bow of his head to show he accepted the thanks. "Goodnight, Yugi."_

_The moment he turned to leave Yugi called out to him and the vampire looked over his shoulder with a raised brow. "C-Could I see you again? It's just that...you seem kind of...I don't know, lonely? If-if you want a friend..."_

_A smile that seemed soft despite himself crossed Atem's lips, but Yugi and yourself only got to see it for a moment before he turned away and started walking. "I'm a dangerous creature, Yugi. Best keep your distance for your own safety."_

_You and Yugi watched the man disappear into the darkness and Yugi still remained standing there for a few minutes, his heart pounding and cheeks red. The only thing that brought the incubus out of his stupor was a frantic call of his name. Yugi looked up and you saw an older incubus soaring through the sky. The old man landed just a foot from Yugi and immediately pulled him into a hug._

_"I've been looking all over for you!" the old incubus cried, "Where were you- what happened?"_

_"I'm okay, grandpa," Yugi assured, returning the hug, "it got bad there for a minute, but someone came to my rescue..."_

_The scene faded again, as if being taken over by smoke and slowly the real world came back into focus._

You opened your eyes and a moment later Yugi opened his own. He was still very close to you and continued to hold his fingers to your temples as he said, "I forgot how much leather he wore back then," and chuckled at the thought.

You found your own laugh breaking through, as well as a smile. "So, you didn't heed 'Batman's' warning and went looking for him anyway?"

Yugi finally let his hands fall to his side, but he stayed close and leaned against the counter with a sheepish expression. "Well, sort of. A couple weeks later a friend of mine came to me and said someone from her coven had gone missing and wanted my help with a tracking spell. When we tracked her we went looking for her on our own, thankfully when we got there, someone was already there to help her." He gave you a pointed look that said 'guess who'. "He was pretty surprised to see me again, and was still pretty insistent that I stay away but..." he shrugged, "things just kinda developed from there, I guess."

You could see it now, the gothic vigilante vampire telling his sweet gentle love interest to stay away from a monster like him, only to be swept up in the passion that ensued. It was all quite romantic, really.

"Glad to see you melted his heart, Yugi," you said still with a smile. "He's obviously a lot happier with you instead of being a stereotypical creature of the night."

Yugi chuckled along with you at the comment, "Oh what you saw was just half of it, did I mention that he was living in an actual crypt when we first met? As in, 1800s, gothic style crypt."

He started describing said sleeping arrangements as he walked to the front of the store to start closing up for the night, but when there was even a slight pause in his description of headstones and iron gates, a deep voice interrupted.

"I hope he isn't telling you all my secrets."

When you two turned you saw Atem leaning against the back doorway with a smirk.

"No, just the slightly embarrassing ones," you admitted.

He closed his eyes and you couldn't tell if actually felt embarrassed or not. "I see, well, once you two are done, I have food waiting for you upstairs."

"And after that, we track down her informant," Yugi half asked, half stated as he looked between the two of you.

You replied with a mischievous smile, "Yup, and don't worry, I have a plan in mind to make sure he talks."


	4. Four: Lead

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took forever to get out everyone! September and October were all taken up with me trying to get my Halloween choose your own adventure story done. If you haven't seen that yet and like horror-themed stuff please consider checking that story out too! 
> 
> Anywho, I hope to update this story a bit more regularly from now on, but we'll see what happens. Now, on to the story!

The apartment was small, graying walls and a tattered curtain separating the living room and kitchenette from the dinky bedroom. It had been vacant when you kicked in the already busted door, but that was alright. You didn’t even have to wait long before you heard that same door’s handle rattle as someone else entered. The ghoul was muttering to himself, carrying a nondescript paper bag that reeked of raw meat. He didn’t even notice you.

You waited until he shut the door behind him and was just about to reach for the light switch before you spoke. “Hello, Bonz.”

He gasped and spun on his heels, peering into the dark at the chair you were seated on. He froze like a possum in the road when he realized it was you. One heartbeat. Two. Then-

“Oh fuck this!”

He dropped the bag and bolted towards the heavy curtains of his window. You sighed, “Told you he’d go for the window.”

Before Bonz could reach them the curtains flew open and Yugi spread his wings wide, making quite the picture as he perched on the windowsill and blocked the exit. The ghoul screeched as he tumbled to the ground in shock at the sight, but quickly scrambled to his feet and started towards the front door. He let out another frightened scream when Atem stepped out from the shadows and leaned against the door with his arms crossed.

“No fair!” the ghoul cried, “since when do you run with demons?! Why do ya have to scare the piss outta me like that?”

You got up from the seat and made your way over to his cowering form, Yugi and Atem closing in as well. “Relax, Bonz, I just want to talk.”

The man scoffed, running his fingers raggedly through his scraggly blue hair, “Yeah right! I’ve still got a scar on my ass from the last time you wanted to ‘talk’!”

When you noticed Yugi and Atem giving you _very_ interested looks at the statement, you threw your hands up, exasperated, “I was aiming for his leg and the little roach squirmed at the last second.”

“Because you were trying to stab me!”

He jumped when your hard gaze snapped back to him with a growl. “And do I need to remind you _why_ I was trying to stab you?” When the ghoul only gulped audibly you continued, “Now, we won’t have to have a repeat of my last visit if you play nice and give me the info I want.”

Bonz tried to sit up straighter, as if to look more dignified or important. “Sure sure, you know you can always count on me! What do you need to know?”

“Have you heard anything about the vampire Marik? He’s been getting quite the following recently.”

You hadn’t thought it possible, what with the paperwhite skin ghouls had, but Bonz seemed to go paler at the name. “Aw geez, why’d you have to ask about him? He’s one scary bloodsucker and his followers are crazy! They busted up one of Pegasus’ clubs for kicks about a month back, then Marik killed em to make an example since he didn’t order them to do it.”

“Alright, nice to know, but can you tell me where any of his followers are, or maybe even Marik himself? You still do odd jobs for fey who pay the right price, any chance Marik hired you to do something for him?”

Bonz had learned long ago that you could tell when he lied, not to mention how...annoyed you got when he wasted your time. So there was no surprise when he started sweating bullets under your stern gaze.

“If you’re worried about Marik coming after you for talking, I can promise we’ll protect you from his wrath,” Atem assured, apparently taking the role of good cop to your bad cop.

The ghoul spared the vampire a glance, then looked back at you as he said, “L-Listen, I heard that he likes picking up random humans off the streets and playing with them before he sucks them dry. That and the bit about his cronies going after Pegasus is all I’ve heard about. I swear- I swear I haven’t seen or heard anything else about him, I’ve been staying clear of that psycho!”

“Where does he pick up these humans?” Yugi cut in.

“All over, mostly slummy areas like this, but all over the city from what I hear. I promise that’s everything I know!”

After a second, Yugi and Atem exchanged a look with you, silently asking if you believed him. You leaned down more to the short ghoul’s level as he remained cowering on the floor. To his credit, he kept his eyes on yours as you stared daggers into his soul, though he was still sweating buckets and barely containing his shaking.

A few heartbeats passed, then you closed your eyes, sighed, and leaned back again. “He’s telling the truth, he doesn’t know anything else.”

“Oh thank god,” Bonz breathed, visibly relaxing.

“So, is there anything else he can help us with?” Atem asked.

“Not much, but...” Your eyes darted back down to the ghoul, “Bonz!”

“Yes, ma'am?!”

“If you hear anything about Marik, anything at all, contact me. I’ll make it worth your while.”

He nodded his head, “Sure thing! But, uh, don’t expect much from me, ya know. Like I said, I want to stay clear of the nut job.”

You made sure to give him another hard glare before starting towards the door. Yugi and Atem followed close behind and Yugi set the busted door back in place as you three stepped out into the dingy hallway.

Once you were back outside (and Yugi had concealed his demonic features again) you let out an irritated sigh.

“That was little help. Marik is smart, he picks his victims up all over town so we can’t pinpoint his hideout.”

“What about that other thing he said?” Yugi asked, “He said something about him going after some clubs owned by another fey?”

You scratched the back of your neck, already feeling uneasy about that particular lead. “Yeah, Pegasus. I have an in with him, but...let’s just say I want to make sure I can’t get a lead from someone else first. He isn’t a man we want to owe favors to.”

“So, what now?” Atem asked

Your eyes drifted towards the sky as you thought if only to avoid the unseemly sight of the dirty street before you. “There’s someone I can talk to who might know about the disappearances. We can go to her bar if you two don’t mind the walk.”

When both men agreed without hesitation you started walking in that direction, though you had only managed a block before Atem was suddenly gripping your arm tight. You turned and looked in the direction he was staring and saw a posh, dark blue limousine coming down the street. A car like that was so obviously out of place in these slums that it was almost comical. The thing that got Atem worried though, was that you three were the only ones on the dark street and its headlights were trained right on your trio.

Atem took his grips on both you and Yugi and started sprinting down the street but the tailgater was too fast. The limo swerved into the street before you could cross with speed and ease that should be impossible for such a long vehicle. It screeched to a halt so that the back window was almost directly in front of the three of you. It rolled down to reveal a young man with brown hair and eyes the color and temperature of ice. You recognized him from his picture on the ‘persons of interest’ board at the Sanctuary.

“Get in,” Seto Kaiba snapped.

Atem let out a growl and moved to pull both you and Yugi to the other side of the limo, but you stopped him. “Wait! He’s not one of Marik’s. I think we should go with him.”

Both of your companions looked at you with concern for a moment, “Are you sure?” Atem asked.

“He’s Seto Kaiba and if what I’ve heard about him is true, he doesn’t work with or for anyone, especially not vampires.”

“Get in now or I’m taking my back the generous offer I’m about to give you,” the dragon all but snarled.

You opened the door and climbed inside, figuring the boys could leave this to you if they really didn’t want to come. They did, apparently, or at least didn’t want to leave you alone with the dragon, because they climbed in right after you (Atem looking quite annoyed, you may add).

The limo pulled back out into the road the moment Yugi shut the door, jostling all three of you about until the ride smoothed out. When you got your bearings and looked up, you saw that the famed fey was not alone. Mokuba had a very mischievous grin on his face, looking quite relaxed in the fine leather seats. The youngling leaned forward a bit and sniffed the air in front of you.

“Yup! This is her, alright. She’s the one that helped me escape!”

You quirked a brow at him, “You knew my scent?”

“I have a way better nose than most dragons,” he declared with a prideful smirk, “That was a nice glamour charm you put on when you broke me out, but it didn’t cover your scent and I remembered it from all the times you passed my cell.”

Yugi crossed his arms, pursing his lips a bit as he muttered, “In other words, he thought you were cute and memorized your scent every time you walked by.”

“Hey, watch it, sex demon!” Mokuba hissed, his cheeks turning a tab pink. “It’s not like that, we’re here on business, that’s all!”

Beside him, his older brother nodded. “Exactly, and we don’t have time for squabbling so listen and listen carefully.” His cold eyes locked on you and you heard no warmth or genuine gratitude in his tone as he said, “Even though we didn’t need your help and I’m sure you did it for your own benefit, the simple fact is that you helped my brother escape from the Circle. Some might perceive that as me being in your debt, and I don’t like open debts.”

He picked up the thick blue folder from his lap and tossed it to the floorboard between you. Really, he couldn’t just hand it to one of you? Jerk. Atem kept his eyes on Kaiba and he leaned forward and plucked the folder from the ground. As he started looking through it, Seto continued his mini-speech.

“The three of you are looking for the blood-sucker Marik. I make it my business to know what’s going on in this city, especially regarding other fey. That’s a list of all the places I know Marik has used as a hideout in the last five months.”

“But not his current whereabouts?” Atem accused.

The dragon bared his teeth, “That list is better than anything the Circle- or anyone for that matter, has on Marik. And from what I can tell it’s the best lead you have, so be thankful I’m giving you that.”

“How did you know we were looking for him?” you asked.

Kaiba closed his eyes, somehow making the look seem smug, “Like I said I make it my business to know fey business. That includes the goings-on in the Circle.” He eyed your right hand for a second. “Also count yourself lucky that I have no interest in telling the council where they can find their latest traitor.”

With that, he tapped his fist against the side of the limo and it came to another screeching halt, almost sending you to the ground if it weren’t for Yugi’s tail wrapping around you quickly.

The door beside Atem opened as Seto said, “That’s all you’ll be getting in return for helping my brother. Now get out.”

The dragon’s limo drove off the moment you three were on the sidewalk and it almost gave you whiplash to think of how quick the exchange had been. Atem was flipping through the files again, the lines on his face growing deeper the longer he looked.

“He acted as though this was some great charity, but it’s almost useless to us. Marik is not foolish, he won’t have left much behind at any hideout.”

“Maybe not, but it might help us establish a pattern on where he tends to go, and where he might go next,” you put forth, taking the folder from his hand and flicking through it yourself. “This is better than nothing, at least...” You snapped the folder shut and looked up at your companions. “Change of plans. We’ll visit my other acquaintance another night. We should probably get back home, I’ll study the file tonight and see if I can establish a pattern.”

You turned to head in the direction of the house but happened to catch Yugi’s small smile and faltered. Only after quirking a questioning brow at him did you realize you had used words that inferred their house was yours too. Yugi said nothing, simply continued to smile as he and Atem started walking towards home. You had to shake your head before falling in step with them. Not for the first time, such easy acceptance into their lives caught you off guard. Not just your acceptance, but theirs as well.

***

You could most definitely get used to Yugi’s home cooking. Hamburgers where his specialty, apparently (and his personal favorite) but he made quite a nice fish and rice dish that night that made you want to hum in delight at the first bite. The Circle had by no means fed you slop, in fact, their focus on giving their members good meals was one of the few things you gave them credit for. But something about seeing Yugi hum to himself in delight as he cooked, the smile on his face when he asked how it was, and even the cute apron he wore made it all seem more… Well, you didn’t know what, but it was pleasant.

A slight bit of dread crept up your back when you went to bed that night, worried that the side effects of Yugi’s magic hadn’t worn off yet and you’d once again find yourself in their bed. Thankfully, when you woke the next morning, you were still tucked under the covers of the guest room, Kaiba’s file papers and a map of domino scattered about since you had fallen asleep at your work last night.

After consulting your notes, putting away the files, and getting through your morning routine, you wandered into the kitchen to find Yugi and Atem starting their morning like the had the previous day: Yugi making breakfast and Atem reading the paper.

“Good morning!” Yugi greeted with a smile, “Are eggs and toast okay for breakfast?”

“Of course,” you smiled back at him, it’s not like you were going to say no when he was already making said eggs. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“You can make the toast if you want.”

After you moved to do just that, you heard Atem rise from his seat and make his way to the other side of the kitchen island and the other side of you.

He leaned against the counter as he said, “Did you make much headway with Kaiba’s notes last night?”

You nodded, “I did, actually. Apparently Marik likes to make vacant houses into his hideouts. All of the places he’s stayed at were either up for sale, or the owner was on vacation while he stayed there. Marik also seems to stick to higher ends of town for his hideouts and if Kaiba’s intel is accurate, he changes every week or so. He’s run out of new neighborhoods to hit and seems to be hitting the same neighborhoods again, just in a different order. With the way he’s changed up the order he’s hitting them this time, I think I narrowed his next base down to three neighborhoods. I want to investigate my possibilities today. I might just find his current hidey-hole.”

Atem did not smile at the news, though his eyes seemed more alight as he said, “We should wait until nightfall, that way we can come with you.”

“No need, I can investigate this part on my own,” you assured as you dropped the second set of bread in the toaster.

His eyes actually narrowed a bit. “It isn’t safe, you shouldn’t go alone.”

Despite yourself, a pang of annoyance started to crawl up your chest, “Don’t worry about me, I can handle it-”

“Marik is dangerous, you’re putting yourself in danger by going by yourself.”

Atem was almost shouting now and your annoyance rose as you turned to face his glare with one of your own.

“What makes you think I don’t know that? I’ve been tracking him for a long time, trust me, I’m not ignorant of how dangerous he is!”

“Then why won’t you let us come with you?” he growled.

Behind you, you heard Yugi try to cut in with some placating remark, but you were beyond annoyance now and growled right back at the vampire. “Look, I’ve been tracking bloodthirsty fey for years, _by myself,_ long before you came into the picture! I can do this on my own, I don’t need your help!”

Something made a snapping noise and you barely took note that Atem was gripping the frame of the door hard enough to crack. “Pride and stubbornness won’t lead to anything but you’re death! I won’t let you get yourself killed!”

“Let me- Let me!?” Again Yugi tried to step in, physically that time, but you were already turning your back on both of them. “I’ll let you know when you have any damn right to tell me what I can and can’t do!”

The moment you made to storm out of the kitchen you felt Yugi reach out to you, barely missing your arm with his fingertips. Both of them called out your name but anger kept your feet moving all the way until you were slamming the front door behind you, running down the stairs and stepping out into the backyard. You heard footsteps giving chance and Yugi’s voice calling out but the haze of anger blocked it out. Desperate not to have to face either of them, you cast a teleportation spell and zapped yourself out of there in an instant.

Your heart was still beating erratically when you reappeared in the posher part of town and you couldn’t make sense of the odd cocktail of emotions surging through you as you paced the well-kempt alleyway. Who did Atem think he was treating you like that? Like a child?! Didn’t he understand that you had been shoved into danger like this by yourself since you were a goddamned teenager? He didn’t know half the things you’d seen and done, he had no right to-

You cursed under your breath when you realized you were setting the cuff of your jacket on fire in your anger. With the seal gone you had to more actively control the waves of magic flowing to your palm, lest it answer to your emotions like that.

After patting the sizzle out, you made yourself release a long sigh, trying to calm the surge of emotions.

As you calmed, your mind replayed the way both of them had called to you as you stormed out, your name acting a one-word plea asking you to stay. Yugi had tried to play peacemaker, but you ignored him. Footsteps had followed you down the stairs but you hadn’t wanted to hear them.

Then a thought came unbidden to your mind; they had simply been worried about you.

The feeling was almost alien. Throughout your whole life, the only companions who had ever shown any kind of concern for your life were Mana and Mahad. The Circle in general only cared to the extent of keeping their investment well enough to work. You were a soldier, and soldiers died all the time.

You slumped against a brick wall and buried your face in your hands as another uncomfortable mix of emotions crept in.

Those thoughts and more swam in your mind for what felt like forever, all the way until you felt the need to punch something even if it was the brick wall! You couldn’t think about all this right now. You had your mission and you needed to stay focused. So, you took a deep breath and packed the feelings away, before stepping out of the alley.

Despite your best efforts those and other uneasy thoughts kept sneaking in as you made your way down the nice streets. Not just that, but soon a growl from your stomach reminded you that you hadn’t gotten to taste Yugi’s breakfast before storming out. Guilt, irritation, and hunger all proved hard to keep at bay as you kept ears and eyes out for anything that might be of interest to your mission.

The first neighborhood on your list was an area full of nice, high-end houses and not much else. With them being so close to each other you wondered why Marik would risk hiding out here when neighbors had a high chance of hearing or seeing his goings-on. Maybe the bastard liked the challenge and risk of being discovered, yet another thing he could feel pride over as the Circle continued to fail in capturing him.

Based on the dragon’s intel, you of course looked for any houses that were vacant. Ones up for sale were easy enough to note, what with the signs in the front yards (Marik must take those down while he was hiding out to avoid any interested buyers peeking around). However, if Marik was smart, which he was, he would stick to houses that were only vacant for the week or two he stayed there, and those were harder to spot. Mail piled up in a letterbox was a sure sign of someone being on vacation, but unless you watched the houses all day or more, there weren’t many other signs.

Time to get creative.

The white fence and front door flanked by petunia beds looked almost too stereotypical but it seemed like a good place to start. Another advantage you had over other magicians was that people hardly assumed a young cute woman like you would be up to no good. A middle-aged housewife in a pink blouse answered your knock with an all too-bright smile. Perfect, she looked just like the type who would know the boring business of all her neighbors.

You got straight to the point in a voice so cheerful that it almost strained your vocal cords. “Hi there! I was wondering if you could help me with something.”

The frantic expression you put on must have been convincing, because she looked as worried as a mother finding her kid crying as she said, “Oh of course, honey! What’s wrong?”

“Well you see, I work for a house sitting company and someone in this neighborhood hired us to look after their house while they’re on vacation- but the residential information they gave seems to be wrong! My boss doesn’t know what happened, maybe just a typo or something? Anyway I don’t want to disappoint the family who hired us so I’m trying to find the right house. All I know is the house is in this neighborhood and I have the key here,” you flashed the spare key Yugi had given you yesterday, “do you know what house I might be looking for?”

The woman’s eyes brightened in an instant, pleased that she could help. “Oh! Well, you must be looking for Doctor Kris’ house! He went on vacation earlier this week,” she stepped out into her front porch beside you and pointed down the road, “his house is the blue one there on the right, with the blossom tree in the front yard.”

You gave a dramatic sigh of relief, “Oh thank you so so much! You’re a real lifesaver!”

The woman actually flushed just a bit and smiled pleasantly, “It’s no trouble at all, dear, happy to help!”

After another thank you and wave goodbye you walked back down the stone steps with your first possible vampire hideout marked. It was almost scarily easy to fool people when you looked as unassuming as you did. Use the right words, ones that made you seem like a victim or simple helpful bystander, and others would open their mouths without a second thought. It didn’t matter that the key you flashed wouldn’t open any of the houses here, showing it still looked like evidence that you were who you said you were. Of course, there were other ways to get the info you needed out of the neighbors, but you were running low on daze powder and preferred to use it only as a last resort.

You continued that little scam act not only in the other neighborhoods you investigated, but also on others in the same neighborhoods, just in case there were more vacant houses to discover. Only one person you approached was at all suspicious -an old man who looked like he’d glare down a butterfly fluttering in his garden- but everyone else was all too happy to help you.

In the end, you had five possible places Marik might be hiding. As you discovered each location, you made sure to do a quick investigation of the perimeter, looking for any surefire signs of vampiric residence, but nothing stuck out at any of the houses. You told yourself that it was just Marik being smart, but you still worried that all these leads were a bust.

After taking note of the final house on your list, you started making up your formal report to the Council in your head as-

You shook your head almost violently when you realized what you were doing. You didn’t answer to the Circle anymore, there wasn’t a report to make or council to answer to now. Now all you had in the way of backup were Yugi and Atem. 

Another sigh left you at the sudden wave of guilt coming back in at the thought of them. You weren’t sure what to do about how you had left things with the boys that morning.

Well, regardless, you told yourself that you had done enough on your own and the next step called for more help; you weren’t about to storm the potential hideout of the Circle’s most wanted vampire alone. Besides, Atem deserved to be there when you caught him. You and the boys needed to do the next step together.

***

By the time you had made it back to the Mystic Box’s front door your nerves had worked up quite a frenzy in your chest and stomach. You had to tell yourself thrice over that avoiding Atem and Yugi would accomplish nothing as you approached the shop.

Then, a distraction from the knots forming inside you came in the form of two women. Through the large display window of the shop, you saw two of the girls from the salon next door (two of the ones who had been ogling Yugi the day before) standing at the counter talking to Yugi. Just like the day prior, you could already tell the incubus seemed uncomfortable with their attention; shifting his feet and eyes darting about as he tried his best not to fidget with his hands.

You opened the door and had to actively tell yourself not to slam it open as you stepped in. The women didn’t notice or care but Yugi’s eyes flickered to the door, then they widened at the sight of you. He threw you that easy, gentle smile of his as he turned his back on the girls and started putting items on the shelf, obviously having been in the middle of that task already.

“Come on, Yugi!” one of the girls cooed, the dark-haired one with the large breasts, which she was doing her best to display as she leaned over the counter towards Yugi. “You’ve never come to any of my parties, surely you and that cute roommate of yours could come just this once!”

“You two hardly ever get out,” The short blonde purred, actually sitting on the counter and reaching out to brush her hand down Yugi’s arm. “It’s time for you to have some fun. I promise we’ll show you a good time.”

If you hadn’t had enough of them before, that suggestive tone certainly put you over the edge. You closed the rest of the space between the door and the counter as you said, very firm and clear, “Sorry, girls, but it’s my fault they can’t come this time. They already promised to help me with a project.”

The blonde shot you a glare that could rival your sharpest dagger, “Who’re you again?”

“A friend,” Yugi cut in, a little more sharply than you were expecting. He turned back to the girls with an apology in his eyes, “I really am sorry, but like she said, we already promised to help her. Maybe next time.”

The brunette scoffed and leaned back, “Alright, alright. But next time you’re coming to the party even if I have to drag you there, cutie.” She ended with a wink towards Yugi, then her friend hopped off the counter and with a flirty “Bye Yugi!” they said in unison, they were walking out of the store without sparing you another glance.

When the door shut Yugi slumped against the counter with a sigh. “Thanks for that, I thought they’d never leave.” He then looked up and that smile was back in place, only wider and somehow even warmer. “I’m glad you’re back. Did you- uh, find anything while you were out?”

The knots returned tenfold at Yugi’s very suddenly bashful demeanor. Maybe he wasn’t certain how upset you were. Or ...maybe Atem was still angry at you and Yugi hoped to avoid another fight.

Not wanting bitter feelings to bubble back up, you coughed and ran a hand through your hair as you said, “Yeah, I did, actually. I wanted to talk to you and Atem about what I found and our next move.”

“Great- I mean, that’s great!” Yugi said a little too enthusiastic as he walked out from behind the counter. He grabbed a 'back in 10 minutes' sign from behind the counter and quickly went to the front door. After locking it and putting up the sign, he said, "We can talk about it now, sooner the better, right?" before ushering you up the stairs.

There you found Atem in a rather domestic scene, folding laundry in the living room of all things. His attention snapped to the door the moment Yugi opened it and when he saw you he seemed to stiffen by the smallest bit.

He stood, abandoning the dark tank top he had been folding, and walked towards you two, “You’re back, is everything alright?”

You nodded, noting the tense way Yugi positioned himself between you two, though off to the side. “I did. I think I narrowed the possible places Marik might be hiding down to five houses.”

“You didn’t charge into any of these places by yourself, did you?”

“Atem,” Yugi’s one-word scolding was firm as he looked at the vampire with a warning in his usually soft eyes.

You ignored the slight twinge of annoyance in the back of your mind and said, “No, I didn’t. I knew we not only needed a plan but that all three of us should investigate them together.”

The tension in Atem’s body eased as he uncrossed his arms and looked at you with a softer expression. “Alright, so we start checking these places one by one tonight?”

“Actually, I was thinking about going tomorrow, during the day. It’s the best time to hit a vampire, after all.” When Atem quirked a brow that said ‘what about the vampire on your side’ you continued. “I noticed that Yugi has the ingredients I need to make another daylight ring for you in the shop. It’ll take me tonight and tomorrow morning to make, and it’ll be a lower grade one that only lasts a couple of hours, but I figured we could catch Marik unawares and hit the spots before the sun sets.”

Yugi and Atem exchanged a look for a moment, then Yugi said, “Sounds like a good plan to me.”

Atem nodded and opened his mouth to say something- that is, until your stomach decided to make itself known with a hungry growl. Oh, right, it was well after noon and you still hadn’t eaten. Heat shot up into your face as both boys looked at you with wide eyes.

“You didn’t get anything to eat while you were out, did you?” The light, but somehow still firm scolding in Yugi’s tone made you shift your gaze to the ground.

“...No…”

Yugi sighed as he walked toward the door, “Atem, make sure she eats something before she comes back down to the shop, she isn’t allowed to starve herself!”

When the door closed behind Yugi, you looked up and found Atem smirking at you. With an annoyed huff, you turned on your heel and started towards the door as well, but Atem stepped into your path with crossed arms.

“I guess I was right to assume you were the type who skips meals in favor of their work. Now, I may not be as good a cook as Yugi, but I’m sure I can make you something easily enough.”

“The two of you don’t have to take care of me,” your tone wasn’t nearly as biting as you worried it would be, in fact, it sounded rather weak and halfhearted, more bashful than anything.

When a hand reached out and gently touched your shoulder you looked up and met Atem’s eyes. “We’re allowed to worry about our friends. We simply want to make sure you’re taking care of yourself.”

Though he didn’t say it outright, you knew the statement wasn’t just about the skipped meal. You didn’t want to just come out and say an ‘I’m sorry’ and maybe he didn’t either. Or rather, maybe neither of you needed to. The guilt that had been gnawing at you all day seemed to dissipate as Atem gave you a small, but still warm smile.

“Come, let’s get you something to eat.”

***

The sandwich and chips you ended up having wasn’t a perfect meal, but it was enough to fill you up until dinner. As soon as you were done with it, you went back downstairs, assured Yugi that you had eaten, and were now camped out in the backroom of the magic shop with your tools ready.

You had asked Atem for the daylight ring you already gave him, since re-enchanting the item would be easier than doing it from scratch, and were surprised when he simply pulled it off of his ring finger. He had been wearing it amongst his other adornments since you have it to him. Maybe he simply liked the rune-like design on it.

About an hour had passed since you set up your little workshop when Yugi popped his head into the room.

“Is there anything you need?” he asked, scanning over the herbs and chalked symbols circling the ring on the floor. “More juniper or anise? Maybe something to drink while you work?”

You smiled up at him, “No, I’m okay. This part of the enchantment just takes some waiting.”

“Well, I’ll wait with you then!” Yugi left the door open just enough to hear the front door’s bell should a customer come in, before settling on the ground beside you. Then, the moment he had settled, Yugi’s eyes suddenly went wide, “I won’t disturb anything being here, will I?”

You actually chuckled at him, “No, not at all. I’m just waiting for the symbols to infuse its magic with the herbs.”

“Okay, good.” Yugi flashed that bashful smile at you and a few moments of silence passed before his grin fell and he scratched the back of his neck. “Hey, I wanted to talk to you about something. About this morning, Atem wasn’t trying to order you around or anything. Sure he can be a bit bossy sometimes, but really he was just worried about your safety. He’s known Marik for a long time and...well, let's just say he knows first hand how brutal he can be.”

Your eyes stayed focused on the ring before you as you took in Yugi’s words for a moment. “I’ve been wondering what connection Atem has to Marik since I met him, but I didn’t think it was my place to ask.”

“He’s pretty mysterious when he wants to be, isn’t he? It took him a while to open up about all of that to me too. Still, you should know at least the basics about it since we might actually be catching up to Marik...” Yugi took in a deep breath, and when he let it out he said, “Marik was the one who turned Atem into a vampire.”

Your eyes widened a bit at the words, though truly it wasn’t that shocking. Vampires often had deep connections to the ones who sired them, good or bad. Though you had yet to meet Marik face to face, you were sure he was an old vampire, just like Atem.

“I see,” you said eventually, “Marik may try to use that connection to get under Atem’s skin when we confront him. Though something tells me Atem will be ready for that.” You finally looked back over at Yugi and gave him the smallest of smiles, “Thank you for telling me, Yugi. Maybe he’ll feel comfortable talking to me about it more someday.”

Yugi returned the smile in an instant, only his was notably more bright. Maybe he liked that your words hinted at the fact that you were planning on hanging around for a long time. You hadn’t actively decided that, it just seemed...natural at this point. Even though your mission to catch Marik might be drawing to a close soon.

***

Unfortunately, Yugi did not get the chance to talk to you much more after that since a few customers came in soon after the reveal of Atem’s past. It took a couple of hours, but you managed to infuse the protection and sun magic of the herds and magician’s circle into the ring. Now all that was left to do was hang it in a window where it would absorb the rays of the sun when it rose and hung in the sky for several hours the next day.

You finished just in time to help Yugi close the shop and make dinner. You hadn’t realized how much you were looking forward to Yugi’s cooking until you smiled at the way he hummed to himself, stirring the pan of steaming potatoes, adorned in his apron patterned in light pink stars.

Over dinner, you told the boys a little more about the houses you thought might be harboring Marik, as well as some tips on how to break in without being detected (though you were somehow sure Atem knew a tick or two in that already). Yugi also mentioned that he had contacted a friend of there’s, a werewolf with a nose that would come in handy when checking the spots out. That was a good idea, not only to give you a clue on if a vampire was actually inside but if anyone else was with him and how many enemies to expect.

During said meal and talks, you noticed the heavy set to Atem’s shoulders and the stony seriousness to his face that never wavered during the discussion. You were growing worried about him and what was weighing on his mind, especially when he excused himself to the balcony as you and Yugi washed the dishes.

Through the glass doors to the balcony, you saw the way Atem looked out at the stars with that heavy expression still on his face. You must have been glancing that direction more than you thought because eventually, Yugi gave you a gentle nudge with his elbow and when you turned to look at him, his expression was a gentle, understanding one.

“Go on, he could use someone to talk to. I can finish up here.”

You shook your head at the offer, “You’re the one who should go talk to him, Yugi. Anything I can say will mean more coming from someone he loves.”

“But there’s something on your mind too, I can tell there’s something you want to tell him,” Yugi amended with a look that said he could see through you and Atem easily. He gave you another nudge, this time with his hip, tail flicking across your legs as he did, “Go tell him what you think he needs to hear, then we can all do something fun together after.”

He wasn’t wrong, there was something that had been on your mind since Yugi talked to you about Atem. It was a hard subject to breach, but the more you thought about it, the more you knew it had to be said. With a defeated sigh you handed Yugi the pot you had been scrubbing, dried your hands, and walked towards the balcony. 

When you stepped out Atem looked over his shoulder at you.

“Um, hi,” you wanted to cringe at how awkward you sounded and looked as you gave him a little wave. “I wanted to ask how you’re doing. You must have a lot on your mind right now.”

Lids closed over those deep scarlet eyes before he turned away again, “I do. But you needn't worry.”

“I thought we were allowed to care and worry about our friends.”

You tried not to sound too smug at using his own words against him, though you also hoped to ease the tension a bit. When he didn’t say anything about your remark, you let out another sigh. If he wasn’t going to talk about his feelings, you might as well get to the topic you wanted to bring up with him.

“Listen, there’s something else I wanted to talk to you about.” 

He didn’t answer you, though you somehow knew he was listening. This was going to be a hard topic to bring up. Might as well rip the bandaid off in one blunt go. 

“Killing Marik won’t make you human again.” 

Silence. 

“I know that it’s a popular belief, that killing a sire will cure all the vampires they turned, but it’s a myth, it doesn’t work like that.” 

Again, silence. 

“I- I’m not trying to be cruel or make you upset, but I knew I needed to tell you-”

“I know.” 

Atem drew in a deep breath after the gentle words and finally, he turned to face you. Your heart ached a bit when you saw the emotion in his eyes. 

“This isn’t about becoming human again. I’ve known for a long time that I will never get my humanity back. This is about justice. Not just for myself, but all the people he’s hurt in his life.” Another stretch of silence passed but you knew he had more to say and waited with patience. “For centuries I’ve not been able to escape Marik. I was his first, the first one he turned into a monster. I knew him before he was a vampire, he and his family worked for my father. I didn’t know it at the time, but Marik hated my family, and me specifically. I don’t know the details of how he became what he is, but he used his new powers to get what he considered revenge on my family.” He swallowed something in his throat and you worried he was holding back tears. “He slaughtered everyone in our household. But he left me and my father for last. He made my father watch as he turned me, then, when he was done, Marik killed him too.” Atem closed his eyes against the memory, “My father lived just long enough to watch his only son become a monster.”

“You aren’t a monster,” the slight choke in your own voice surprised you but you didn’t care. You took a step closer and stopped just short of grabbing him by the arms. “Trust me, Atem, I know what a monster is, I’ve hunted them all my life.” Indeed, memories of bloodstained rooms, screams of the deepest agony, and bodies too young and too small filled your head. “Marik wanted to make you into one, but you’re not. You’re stronger than him, you’re better than him, and-” you took in a sharp breath, and found the strength in your words as Atem met your eyes. “And we’re going to stop him together.”

For a few heartbeats, he stared back at you. You thought you saw surprise and...something else in the depths of his eyes, but what really surprised you was when he reached up and brushed his fingers along your cheek.

“Thank you. I’m proud to have you and Yugi at my side,” he whispered. “I feel as though I can do anything, so long as the two of you are with me.”

You smiled up at him, though the intensity of his gaze and the feel of his hand was making your chest hurt somehow. After another moment, he dropped his hand and looked up at the door leading inside over your shoulder. You turned to look at them too and a second later Yugi popped his head out to smile at you both.

“If you guys are up for it, I thought we could all go see a movie together. Sound fun?” he asked with hope in his light tone.

Atem chuckled at his boyfriend, “That sounds wonderful, aibou.”

When they both turned to you expectantly, you had to clear your throat before you could answer. “Y-yeah. That could be fun. I’ve never really had much time for movies before.”

“Great!” Yugi clapped his hands together and turned towards the front door.

Again Atem chuckled as the two of you followed and Yugi went on about the movies currently playing. It almost felt odd how the idea of spending this time with them made you so happy. Especially after the variety of emotions you had gone through that day, but you didn't want to linger on the thought. Like everything with the two of them, taking this time to spend together just seemed...natural.


	5. Five: Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I totally intended for this to be out at least a couple weeks ago but I experienced some writer's block at one point, but I think I'm finally back on track! I hope you guys like this chapter and all the stuff I packed into it!
> 
> P.S. Here's one of the songs I play on repeat while writing this series, in case any of you are interested! https://youtu.be/gUo8RH1yXmQ

“Why didn’t you tell us you’ve never been to a movie theater before?!”

You actually couldn’t help but snicker at the look of pure exasperated incredulity plastered on Yugi’s face as you and the boys walked down the city street together. He looked downright horrified that they hadn’t treated the occasion with more care.

“It’s not that big of a deal. Besides, I could list the “fun” things I’ve done outside of the Circle way faster than I could list the things I haven’t done.”

Yugi sighed, looking beyond disappointed, “I just wish your first movie experience was something better than “Mimi the Neko’s Summer Vacation”!”

Again you chuckled and did not miss the amused grin on Atem’s face as he shook his head at Yugi. “It was a cute movie! Don’t feel bad, I liked it.” You gave Yugi a playful nudge with your elbow and were happy to see him grin back at you, finally putting the first movie debacle to rest.

The streets of Domino were alight with the neon signs and other pedestrians enjoying a night out. People with shopping bags, takeout containers, and various other holdings walked down the street, passing the vampire, the incubus, and yourself without any care. Not that any of them knew what the three of you were, but still. From what you remember of the walk over you were still five or so blocks from home, but the night air was cool and the company was more than pleasant. The way Yugi and Atem held hands as they walked made you smile for some reason, and despite the people bustling around you, it felt as if you three were walking in your own little bubble.

Then, you saw Yugi’s eyes go wide with delight as they landed on a cart parked on the very edge of the sidewalk. “Have you ever had ice cream before?” he asked, turning back to you with an expectant grin.

You opened your mouth to answer- but found yourself hesitating when your mind seemed to stall. You had been on the verge of saying yes, but, even as the answer came to your mind, the memory of eating the frozen treat did not. Surely you had tried it while out on missions. The Circle had given you a small allowance after all, and you often used it to try new foods. Perhaps the memory was simply wrapped up in the back of your mind somewhere.

“Yeah, I think I have,” you answered after recovering from the momentary falter.

Though he must have noticed the odd moment, Yugi elected to ignore it and instead grabbed your hand with his free one and pulled both you and Atem towards the icecream cart. He asked- no, more like_ told_ you to get whatever flavor you wanted as he looked over the few options available. Again Atem was smiling at his boyfriend’s cute behavior and gave you an understanding wink as he asked for an orange pop. Eventually, Yugi got a double scoop of strawberry on a waffle cone and you got the flavor that sounded most appealing. Again you couldn’t recall the flavor you had tried in the past but were certain you had done so before.

As you and the boys resumed your walk, treats in hand, Atem quickly took notice to you giving him an interested look. “You know I’ve never seen a vampire eat regular food before,” you commented.

Atem hummed, “Yes, I don’t suppose you would have. After turning, our taste buds are dulled to...regular foods. Most aren’t appetizing to me in the slightest, but there are a few foods, ones with potent tastes, that I’ll eat upon occasion,” he waved the popsicle to accentuate his words.

“What he’s not telling you, is that all of those foods are sweets,” Yugi interjected with a giggle, “He must have had a major sweet tooth back in the day.”

The information made you laugh, especially when the vampire in question looked almost pouty at being outed. “Careful, Yugi, or I’ll tell her about how childish your eating habits were when we first met.”

“Hey, my diet wasn’t that bad!” Yugi countered.

“Hamburgers, cheetos, and ramen cups are not a diet, my love.”

The monotone in which Atem delivered the burn was it for you, especially when Yugi’s mouth dropped open with a profound blush! You burst into laughter and almost pitched the last of your ice cream to the ground as you covered your mouth to stifle the giggles. You expected to hear Yugi say something sassy back, but after a few moments where you recovered from your humorous outburst, you looked back over at your companions and saw both of them smiling at you. A warm flush of your very own slithered onto your cheeks, but before you could be too embarrassed, Yugi sighed with a shrug.

“Hey, at least I make decent meals now.” He winked at Atem, “After his constant nagging to eat better I didn’t have much choice.”

“I did not nag-”

“Besides,” Yugi’s bright smile refocused on you, “now it’s not just me I’m cooking for, so it was worth it in the end!”

You had to swallow something that had formed in your throat before answering, and even then you only managed a weak, “Right,” as the three of you continued on your leisurely walk home.

***

Later that night, Yugi hummed happily to himself as he buttoned up his star-patterned PJ top to get ready for bed. He was quite amused that you had insisted that everyone get enough sleep that night when you three got home, stating that tomorrow might be a harrowing day. Just as he did with Atem, Yugi found it cute when you worried.

Atem was straightening up their sheets, his own mind working out the knots of the day’s events. A lot had happened that day and he wasn’t sure if he had properly processed the...potent emotions rolling about in his head. Now in the relative silence of their room, Yugi distracted with his own thoughts, Atem’s mind was wandering.

He still wasn’t sure what to make of the argument he’d had with you earlier. Yugi had once accused Atem of being too “self-destructive” (ironically, during a heated argument of their own) and at the time Atem couldn’t quite understand how to see things from Yugi’s perspective. To understand why such behavior would hurt him so much. Now, seeing you so willing putting yourself in unnecessary danger, Atem understood. He respected that you could more than hold your own in a battle, in fact, he was quite thankful that he had never been your target in a physical fight, but that did not mean he could stop himself from worrying over your safety.

Then there was everything regarding Marik. How the memories of that blood-soaked night still flashed in his mind’s eye. The bodies littering his family home, friends and loved ones alike. The screams ringing in his ears as he tried to get his mother and handmaid out of the house unnoticed. The way Marik whispered sick taunts in his ears as the vampire’s followers held his father down, making him watch as Atem took his last, painful, bloodsoaked breaths as a living, mortal man.

It hurt. Even after all these centuries, the memories hurt. But still, it had felt right to tell you, to open up to you. It had felt good, much like it had when he told Yugi about his past as the young incubus wrapped him up in a warm embrace. And despite the emotional turmoil he’d faced that day, Atem felt...hopeful. He was closer than he ever had been to bringing Marik’s mad schemes to an end, he could feel it. And for the first time in centuries, Atem wasn’t alone while trying to do so.

“It’s nice to see her opening up.”

Yugi’s light, cheery comment brought Atem out of his musings. He looked over as the incubus plopped down on the bed and elaborated in his comment.

“She always seems to have that moment of surprise when she does something, like call this place home, or open up about her past, but she’s still letting herself get closer to us.” Yugi took in a slow breath, his eyes staring unfocused but wistfully at nothing as he thought. “It’s nice, seeing her laugh too. When we were breaking you out of the Sanctuary some jerk of a magician started making these awful comments at her, so I decided to pay him back by putting an hour-long loop of gay porn in his head. When I told her what I did she laughed so much, I just,” Yugi shrugged, chuckling himself at the memory. “You could see that she isn’t used to letting her emotions out like that and she just looked so cute when she was laughing. Just like she did earlier tonight. I like making her laugh...” Yugi’s voice trailed off the longer he spoke, and Atem felt his chest flutter a bit at how sweet Yugi looked as he reminisced.

The vampire smiled as he sat down on the bed next to his lover, “Yes, it is nice seeing her open up to us. It can’t be easy, growing up in the Circle as she did. I’m sure there is so much more about her past that we don’t know about, but still, she’s kept her heart true and noble. She’s...quite amazing in that respect.”

“...You really like her, don’t you?” Yugi asked, tone quiet and eyes staring unfocused on the carpet beneath their feet.

Atem felt himself stiffen, his mind stalling as he realized that he should try to think of some response that would put any...worries Yugi might have at ease.

As if reading Atem’s mind, Yugi quickly said, still in that quiet tone, “You don’t have to deny it, Atem, even if I couldn't sense emotions, I can see the way you look at her. But,” his voice became a bit louder and more firm, as if trying to make sure Atem didn’t misunderstand him. “But it’s okay because...well…” The incubus shifted his position and faced Atem more fully, grabbed his hands and made Atem meet his eyes. In them, the vampire saw something sure and true, something simmering with passion and conviction, urging Atem to understand his next words. “It’s okay because I understand. I _really_ like her too.”

Atem’s eyes went wide at that. “Yugi…”

“I know it’s a bit odd, but, I’m not even jealous when I see you looking at her like that, because I know that I feel the same way. Having her here with us, I don’t know it just feels...right. Like this is the way it was always meant to be. We haven’t even known her that long and it already feels like this is the way it was supposed to be.”

After a moment where Atem’s mind fully processed what Yugi was saying, the vampire tightened his grip on Yugi’s hands with affection. “I won’t deny it. From the first moment I met her I felt...captivated by her. Her strength, her wit, her noble heart, her beauty- all of it drew me in in a way that I could never explain.” He wanted Yugi to understand exactly what was in his heart, he needed Yugi to know every layer of these feelings, and know that feeling this way would never- _could_ never diminish the love he felt for Yugi. Atem reached up and cupped Yugi’s face between his hands, relishing the sweet smile and almost teary eyes the incubus gave him. “In all my years on this earth, the only other person I’ve felt such a deep, immediate connection with, is you, Yugi.”

In response, he chuckled, smiled even wider, and placed his hands over Atem’s. “I feel the same way.”

Overcome, the vampire pulled his lover in for a kiss, spilling all his passion and affection into the intimate contact. Yugi met him with the same and wrapped his arms around Atem to pull him as close and physically possible. It was a sweet parallel to the first time they had confessed their deeper feelings for each other, and though the one they were admitting passion for was missing in that moment, they still relished the loving air. It had to be a positive sign that these admissions ended with sweet kisses instead of hurt feelings, didn’t it? But, all this simply raised even more questions, which Atem addressed after they finally broke their kiss and Yugi slid down to rest his head on Atem’s chest as they still held each other.

“So, what steps do we take now that we know our feelings for her?”

Yugi thought for a moment, allowing his mind to think of all the paths that may lay before them. “Well...if you’re open to it...I don’t mind the idea of- you know, opening up to her about all this and seeing where things go from there.”

“You mean...ask her if she wants to be with both of us? Together?”

The incubus nodded, still held against Atem’s chest, “Yeah, I mean, there are some relationships that are between more than two people. Are you okay with that idea?”

Though the answer wanted to fall from his lips the moment Yugi asked, Atem made himself hold back just a moment, so he could think it over without haste. Such a thing should never be decided in the heat of the moment without thought, or feelings could get hurt later on.

Even after allowing himself that practical moment's though, the answer was still the same. “Yes.”

Yugi gave a content sigh, “Glad it wasn’t just me, I was worried you’d think I was being a stereotypical unfaithful incubus.”

“I would never think that, Yugi,” Atem assured with a tender kiss on the top of Yugi’s head.

A bit of silence passed, Atem allowing himself to picture a future with both you and Yugi at his side, while Yugi let his mind work on another worry and concern over this whole situation.

“I don’t think we should tell her about our feelings yet.”

Atem blinked at Yugi’s sudden change of heart, “Why?”

“Well, think about it,” Yugi finally leaned back from his boyfriend’s chest and looked him in the eyes again, “I don’t want us to overwhelm her too soon, you know? The fight you two had today says that she’s barely getting used to the idea that people care whether she lives or dies! If we tell her all of this now, while she’s still getting used to being around people who care about her at all...I don’t know, I just don’t want to spook her.” Almost immediately Yugi made a frustrated noise and rubbed the back of his head in shame. “That sounded weird, she’s not a deer we’re trying to feed in the forest, but I just think that…”

“You’re right, Aibou,” Atem said, trying to put his incubus’ worry at ease. “We need to give her time. Time to get used to her new life, to us, time to sort out her own feelings before we overwhelm her with our own.”

Yugi sighed in relief that Atem understood and nodded his head with a smile. “Exactly.”

“And in the meantime,” the vampire started as he held Yugi tight again and laid both their bodies back against their soft mattress and pillows, “we simply need to be there for her.”

The incubus gave a sound of agreement as he closed his eyes and lazily wrapped his tail around his and Atem’s intertwined legs. They drifted off to sleep like that, happy and content and...hopeful about the future.

***

It wasn’t until you shot a glare over at the hair salon next door that you realized you were on high alert for Yugi’s overzealous fangirls as you helped him open up the shop. You had told him you would set the sign and display table outside while he did the rest inside and you supposed it was your subconscious need to protect Yugi from the unwanted staring that prompted you to do it. Your effort proved to be for the best when you saw the short blond wander outside for a smoke break- and frowned with a displeased sigh when she saw you instead Yugi. You put on a smile you knew must have looked fake as you waved at her, and her scowl only deepened. Satisfied with how she actually turned her back on you, you went back into the shop after setting up the sandwich sign.

“Thanks for doing that!” Yugi’s cheerful voice chimed from the counter, “I’m all ready here, so you can go ahead and flip the open sign if you want.”

You obliged, then wandered over to the front counter, hopping on to it and turning to Yugi. “So, is your werewolf friend still going to meet us today?”

“Yup! He’s a good guy and always willing to help me and Atem, I thought having his nose would be a good advantage while we’re staking out the possible hideouts, not to mention it can’t hurt to have a werewolf when fighting a vampire, right?”

You nodded, “Right. I usually cast a detection spell to get an idea of how many beings are in a building, but it’s best if I can save my energy for any actual fighting. Plus, his sense of smell will help us know if there’s just vampires inside, or if there’s any human bystanders we have to worry about.”

Yugi agreed with your words, then after a moment, seemed to hesitate. “Um..there’s something else I think I should mention about our friend. We told him about you, and how we trust you, but he’s had some bad run-ins with the Circle before, so he might be a bit suspicious of you at first.” Obviously he had meant for the words to come out differently, because he looked a tad panicked as he amended, “I mean, he won’t be super hostile towards you or anything! He’s not a bad person, it’s just that he might be wary of you at first.”

“It’s okay, Yugi, trust me I understand. Most fey aren’t going to like me, ex Circle or not.” Wanting to move on from his concern you changed the subject by saying, “So what are you going to do about the shop today since we’ll be leaving before you close?”

“You remember how I mention having a witch friend the other day? She sometimes helps me with the shop, so she’ll be watching it for us today. I can’t wait for you to meet her, I have a feeling she’ll like you a lot!”

Why did that comment almost make you want to do a double-take? Yugi seemed so sure of his statement, accentuated with that bright grin of his. “What makes you say that?”

His grin did not falter, “Well, she’s an easy person to get along with period but I think she’ll love how spunky you are, I think you two will be like peas in a pod!”

Your cheeks felt a bit warm suddenly and you found yourself rubbing the back of your neck, unsure how to answer. Yugi may have taken pity on your speechlessness and told you a bit more about both friends you’d be meeting, but his first customer of the day came in then and the conversation came to a halt.

For the next couple of hours, you simply helped Yugi around the shop, though there wasn’t much to do beside straighten up a few shelves. You of course eventually checked on the daylight ring you were making for Atem, after giving it plenty of time to absorb the rays of the sun. When the sigils on the metal glowed faintly as you touched it you sighed in relief; the enchantment was complete. It may not be the high-quality magic that would keep Atem safe from the sun for hours on end, but it would work for today’s mission.

Ring in hand, you contemplated whether you should warn Atem to still wear long sleeves and a hat as you walked back out into the main part of the shop. The sun might still irritate his skin, so the extra layer of cover might do him good. According to Yugi, his friends should be there soon so it was best to prepare now.

You were about to turn to the door leading upstairs so you could talk to Atem, but you were stopped when Yugi called out to you from the front of the store. Turning, you saw the incubus standing in the center of the store next to a young woman with short brown hair. She wore jeans with a stylish blue top that matched her eyes and she gave you a friendly smile the moment they met your own.

Yugi said your name before waving at the girl, “This is Anzu, the one who’ll be watching the store today! Anzu, this is the new friend I told you about over the phone.”

“Nice to meet you!” The woman- Anzu greeted as she closed the distance between you and held out her hand.

You took it and offered her your own smile, though you were sure it wasn’t as warm as hers. “Nice to meet you too, Anzu.”

“Were you about to take that up to Atem?” Yugi asked, pointing at the ring you were fidgeting with in your other hand.

“Yeah, I was going to warn him that…” you trailed off, casting a cautious glance at Anzu, who’s smile never faltered.

“Oh don’t worry, I know about the boys and their cute fangs and wings,” Anzu assured with a wink, “Judging by the crests on it, I’m guessing that’s a daylight ring?”

You didn’t bother hiding your surprise at her knowledge, “Yes, it is. I was just going to warn Atem that he may still want to cover up a bit before going outside. The sun might irritate his skin.”

“I can tell him for you,” Yugi offered, holding out his hand for the ring.

You faltered for a second, something told you that Yugi was trying to give you and Anzu time to talk. Still, not wanting to seem rude you handed the ring over with a “thanks”, and just like that Yugi was dashing through the door and up the stairs.

Not much silence passed in his absence before the obviously sociable Anzu continued your conversation. “You must really know your stuff to be able to make one of those. Enchanting’s never easy.”

“Eh, it’s not as good as it could be, but it’ll do.”

Anzu’s smile faltered a bit and she tilted her head at you. “You don’t have to downplay your skills, you know. I think that’s the Circle’s influence coming through.”

You couldn’t help but tense at her words. Yugi had called her a witch, but the term usually applied to humans who dabbled in the tiny bit of magic they were able to tap into. Given her knowledge of enchantments, the boy’s true races, and the Circle, this was obviously no ordinary white witch.

She must have sensed your tension because she held up her hand in pleading defense. “Oh, sorry, I guess Yugi didn’t mention that he told me a bit about you. He told me how you helped Atem escape execution,” her eyes drifted down to your scarred palm, “how you left the Circle in order to help them.” Her eyes snapped back up to yours and you were surprised by the profound sense of understanding that played in her gaze. “Yugi really wanted us to meet because he thought it might be nice for you to know another spell slinger who’s free of the Circle.”

“Wait...you-?”

“No, not me specifically, but I know a lot about the Circle and how cruel they are. My grandmother was like you, she was brave enough to leave them and start a new life.”

You knew you must have looked silly at how surprised you were at the statement. Magicians had been known to leave the Circle before, but it wasn’t common and the few times someone did, it was kept as quiet as possible. Even after a moment, all you could manage to say was, “Oh.”

Anzu was still understanding and patient with you as she went on, “Yeah. From what she said, it wasn’t easy starting over from nothing, but she managed it. Eventually, she even got married and had a kid, my dad. She made sure to tell me and my dad everything we needed to know about the Circle, just in case we crossed paths with them. She also taught us how to use our magic. I’m sure I’m nowhere near your level, but I know a thing or two.”

A smile found its way onto your face, “Now who’s downplaying their skills?”

Anzu giggled at that and you found the laughter infectious as you let out a small chuckle as well. “Well, I know you’re still probably getting used to your new life, but, if you ever want to talk to another non-circle magic-user, feel free to come to me, kay?”

“Thanks, Anzu, I appreciate the offer.”

You did, truely, she seemed like a genuine and kind person. So far Yugi and Atem had been a surprising source of solace the few times you had talked about your life in the circle. Talking with Anzu may not come as naturally, but getting to know her when you had the chance couldn’t hurt. Several questions about the girl's life outside of the Circle came to your mind, but for now, you started with a simple one.

“I’m curious, Yugi called you a witch when he told me about you, is there a reason you’re using that title instead of magician?”

Anzu gave a shrug, “Well, it’s partly because it helps me stay under the Circle’s radar. Go around calling yourself a magician and they’ll get pretty interested in you. But besides that,” Anzu lifted her chin proudly, “I like the name because it sets me apart from them.”

You smirked at the bold and proud statement, yes, you could see yourself getting along with Anzu just fine. When she turned towards the counter and went to set her bag down behind it, you followed her, noting that Yugi was taking his time fetching Atem. Anzu had apparently decided not to ask anything too personal of you yet, because her next question was simple enough.

“So did Yugi tell you anything else about me?”

“Not really, besides that he helped you find a missing girl in your coven once. And that you help with the shop sometimes.” Not wanting the conversation to taper off awkwardly, you continued with, “So how did you and Yugi meet?”

“Oh, we’ve known each other since we were kids. My family knew Yugi’s so we were always going over to each other’s houses and stuff,” she let out an almost exasperated laugh, “If you ask me I think Yugi’s grandpa was always interested in my grandmother. He was always flirting with her even with us kids in the room.”

You smiled at the thought. Yugi may not be the hopeless flirt that people usually thought of when the word ‘Incubus’ came to mind, but he certainly had his own charm and you had no doubt that he could turn it up when he wanted to; obviously he learned a thing or two from his grandpa. “Yugi’s mentioned his grandpa before, I guess the two were really close?”

“Yeah, they were,” Anzu’s smile didn’t leave but her eyes had a more serious look to them now. “His family wasn’t the stereotypical stuff you think of when you think about incubi and succubi. That’s why my family was so close with them. They really cared about and loved each other, and you can tell it made Yugi into a great man.”

You felt warm at the thought, the way Yugi welcomed you into his home like an old friend, how devoted and loving he was towards Atem, his bright eyes and smile, everything about him confirmed what Anzu was saying. Not for the first time, you found yourself wondering what had happened to Yugi’s parents, but more so you found yourself glad that Yugi had been given such a loving family. “Yeah, he really is.”

After a heartbeat, your eyes met Anzu’s again, and you were a bit taken aback by the knowing look twinkling in her eyes. Before you could question it however, the sound of Yugi and Atem finally coming down interrupted you. Anzu was an interesting woman, you’d have to take some time out to get to know her more when you had the chance.

You looked over your shoulder and found Atem trailing behind Yugi, who had slipped on a blue jacket. Atem had heeded your warning about wearing extra protection to some extent. He wore a long-sleeved shirt and thick jeans tucked into his boots, but he apparently wasn’t fond of hats and had swapped that accessory out for a pair of sunglasses that would keep his eyes from hurting.

“Wow Atem, aren’t you looking stylish,” Anzu chuckled.

The vampire gave the witch a smirk, “Hello, Anzu, I see you’ve met our new friend.”

“I have,” Anzu gave you a little wink, “I can see why you’re teaming up with her, she looks like she knows her stuff. Tough too.”

“That she is.” You noticed out of the corner of your eye that Atem fiddled with his daylight ring a bit as he said that, but the moment was quickly over when he turned to Yugi, “When is Joseph going to arrive?”

“Any minute now, you know how he is,” Yugi assured with a smile.

At their words, you noticed that Anzu's cheerful demeanor seemed to waver and her voice was less chipper as she said, “Are you guys sure you don’t want me to come with you? I don’t mind holding down the fort here, but I hate sending you guys into danger like this.”

Yugi, who had gone behind the counter while you three waited, put a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Anzu, we’ll be okay. We have a vampire, a Circle trained magician and a werewolf on our side!”

“Don’t forget about yourself, Yugi,” you added, “I’m sure those claws of yours aren’t just for show.”

You weren’t entirely sure, but you thought you saw pink creeping up from under Yugi’s collar- unfortunately you were all distracted by the scene when the shop’s bell clanged as the door was swung open.

“Alrighty, who’s ready to hunt some vampires!”

Startled, before your mind could register the words you spun on your heel, raising your hand and repairing a spell. Your mind yelled at you to stop when your eyes landed on a tall blond standing in the doorway with his arms wide.

“Really, Joey?” Anzu hissed at the newcomer, “There could have been customers in here, why are you going around yelling about vampires?!”

After closing the door with a kick of his heel, the man stepped inside. “Oh, hey Anzu! What’re you getting worked up about? Not like any humans would have assumed I meant real vampires anyway.”

Both Anzu and Atem sighed while Yugi only grinned at, who you would assume was their werewolf friend. The incubus opened his mouth to introduce you, but apparently this Joey was a step ahead. His eyes landed on you and with a raised brow, he started circling you.

“So, you’re the mage Yugi told me about?”

It took much- no, _all_ of your self control not to turn and glare at him as he circled, his demeanor not exactly predatory, but not friendly either. “I am. You must be the werewolf.”

“That’s right. You got a problem with that?”

Atem gave a firm and warning call of Joey’s name, but you held up your hand as the man stopped in front of you again. Your eyes were firm on Joey’s, not challenging, but not meek or submissive by any means. “So long as you don’t sharpen your fangs and claws on humans, I don’t have any problem with you.”

Joey made a noise, something more human-like than a snarl, “I don’t hunt humans! I ain’t some animal!”

“Then we don’t have a problem.”

He stared back into your eyes for a long moment, and even under their intensity, you never faltered. The air was growing tense, you wondered if Yugi was about to jump in, the ever calm peacemaker, but then the wolf closed his eyes and let out a hoot of laughter.

“I like her! She’s got guts without bein all high and mighty like the other spell slingers.” He reached out and clapped you on the back, “If Yugi and Atem say you’re alright, then you’re fine by me.” Anzu and Yugi both seemed to let out a breath at that, and Joey turned to them and Atem to elaborate on his first question. “So, where’re we going hunting? I’m itching to take out some human killers.”

***

You hoped that Yugi had warned Joey that all these possible hideouts were only maybes and that there may not be any actual vampire killing that day, because the wolf seemed all too eager with this ‘hunt’ as you arrived at the first house. Atem actually had to pull Joey back from storming the front door, which left you wondering if bringing him along was actually a good call or not. Thankfully, when Yugi asked their friend to sniff the place out before doing anything rash, he seemed quite fine with the more cautious approach.

He walked the perimeter with the rest of you, his nose wrinkled and body hunched. You were glad it was the afternoon on a weekday, or the neighbors in this suburban block may have a question or two for your little group. Eventually, Joey leaned back, looking a bit disappointed as he said that there wasn’t even a trace of a vampiric scent around the property. Well, one down, four to go.

The next house wasn’t any better. The only thing different there was that Joey didn’t try to go in the front door and that there was a very protective cocker spaniel barking at you four from the windows the whole time you circled the house.

You were starting to really worry that your investigation was a complete bust as you arrived in the neighborhood for the third house and apparently you weren’t doing a good job at hiding your unease.

“You okay?” Yugi asked from beside you on the well-kempt sidewalk.

“Yeah, just worried all this trouble will be for nothing. I hate the idea of wasting everyone’s time.”

Yugi’s brows furrowed, “You don’t have to worry about that. Even if Marik isn’t hiding in any of these places, things like this take time, we know that.”

“I would have thought you would be used to investigations leading to dead ends at times, what with the nature of your job,” Atem chimed in from behind you.

You let out a short sigh, “True, but that’s when I’m by myself, not when I’m working with others.” _Others who are relying on me to actually be of use_, you added internally.

“Eh, don’t worry about it!” Joey assured, “If anything it’s just nice for Atem to get out in the sun!” He turned to the vampire in question, “It’s still weird though, seeing him out in the daytime, I don’t think I’ve even seen him awake when the suns up!”

“He’s awake, Joey,” Yugi cut in, “he just stays up in the apartment until sunset.”

You looked over your shoulder at Atem, wanting to see his ring, though his bare hands were tucked into his pockets. “How are you doing, by the way? Ring holding up?”

He nodded, “It’s holding up just fine. Trust me, I’ll let you know if I think I’m about to catch fire.”

“Please don’t joke about that,” Yugi groaned as your group finally came upon the third house.

It was a two-story brick building, not too large but not too small, and it was tucked away at the end of a dead-end street with a large yard separating it from the nearest neighbor. You took notice of the way Joey’s demeanor changed in a flash as you came up to the side of the house.

“Oh, there’s definitely a vampire in there alright.”

The rest of you seemed to tense under Joey’s words, though you were all relatively safe outside in the sunlight. On a closer look you confirmed that all of the curtains in the house were drawn tight, allowing no rays of light to come in, or for anyone to peak out.

“Can you tell if anyone else is in the house?”

Joey sniffed the air, drawing in deep, “I’ll have to get closer to tell.”

With that, the wolf stepped over the stone hedge lining the front yard. You were about to hiss after him, telling him to stay low and out of sight, but he was apparently more cautious than you first thought, and was careful to stay between the view of the windows as he went. You and the boys made to follow after him and you took a tentative look around at the two closets houses.

Your heart nearly jumped in your throat when you saw a face peeking out at you from across the street! It was an old man, looking at your suspicious group with a furrowed brow. You gave him a wave; oh yes, nothing to see here, just four strangers wandering into your neighbor’s yard, everything’s fine! He must have thought so in the end, because he simply shook his head and let the blinds fall back into place.

You were thankful that I line of trees kept you mostly shielded as you and the others walked around the house, Joey’s nose never resting. When he came to the back of the house he paused by a bush and motioned the rest of you to lean in.

“This is weird, I definitely smelling one vampire inside, but there’re older, staler scents, some human, some vampire.”

“Perhaps some of Marik’s servants have come and gone,” Atem suggested under his breath. The hard set of his jaw and the way his shaded eyes stayed on the back door to the house almost concerned you.

“Maybe, but either way we’re still going inside. I suggest you boys let me go in first,” you more said than asked.

“No,” Atem’s fangs were showing as he practically growled his next words, “Marik may have traps waiting inside. If he does, then I should take the damage from them. I can heal from practically anything, you can’t.”

Oh not this again. “Or how about we avoid any traps altogether. I’m a big girl, Atem, this isn’t my first time storming a vampire’s lair.”

You didn’t give him time to answer or argue, because you immediately rushed up to the back door, crouching low under the windows. You heard the three of them follow as you grabbed the door’s handle. There were several ways to get in, and though most magicians would have likely picked the lock or busted up with their bare hands, you relied on your talent with fire. Within seconds the thin metal of the knob was melting and sliding onto the stoop.

As quietly as you could you pushed the door open and took your first scan of the house. A kitchen lay before you, small for the nicer suburban houses, but this wasn’t the best one on the block by any means. Dishes were piled up in the sink and the stale smell of a neglected home filled the air.

Satisfied that nothing was going to blow up at the doorway, you stepped inside and the boys followed. Just off of the kitchen was a short hallway with two doors off of it and a staircase on one side.

“The smell's coming from upstairs,” Joey whispered to you.

Yugi opened his mouth to say something but you held your finger to your lips. It was almost impossible to sneak up on a vampire, even when they were sleeping, but you still wanted to keep as quiet as possible to postpone your detection. As you stepped towards the stairs at a slow pace, you looked over at Atem. He had taken his sunglasses off and he looked primed and ready to bolt up the stairs at a moment’s notice. There was something else though, something like suspicion in his eyes. Maybe he thought this was all too easy and, honestly, you might have to agree with him.

Your foot had just landed on the fifth step of the stairs when a loud BANG sounded overhead. Someone behind you jumped and your knuckles turned white on the railing as your ears strained to listen.

Growling.

More than that, it was a snarling desperate noise that was soon followed with another bang.

“Something’s trapped up there,” you whispered and another thud succeeded your claim.

“Someone trapped Marik in his own hideout?” Joey asked.

“I don’t think so,” Yugi answered, his eyes staring into the dark landing above. “I think it’s something else.”

Atem stepped up beside you, “Let’s find out.”

Since there was extremely little ambient light ahead, you lit a small flame in the palm of your hand before stepping up to the landing. The growling and banging were louder now, and it seemed to grow more and more erratic as you stepped down the hallway. It wasn’t hard to find the source of the ruckus, even among all the closed doors. The shaking wood and padlock over the door were dead giveaways. The metal screws holding it together were ripping away from the wood more and more with every thud and snarling growl until-

“Get down!”

You saw Joey grab Yugi as he threw himself out of the way of the flying door and something came charging out! In a flash of red and snarls the thing lunged at Atem before he could move. The vampire grunted in pain as he toppled to the ground with the thing and you saw that it had clamped down on Atem’s arm. Though the humanoid thing had him pinned, Atem still had the upper hand as it spilled his blood. With one swift hard punch, he broke its nose, sending it skittering back, hissing and spitting with pain. Joey grabbed it before it could recover and tried to put it in a headlock, but the thing struggled and writhed so much that it escaped his grip- though the cost was a sickening _snap_; a broken limb.

It tried to claw at Joey with it’s one good hand but with a harsh wave of your own, you sent the thing flying back into the dark closet it had been trapped in. A howl of pain and angry hiss in the dark later and it was lunging back at you from the shadows. It was too easy to grab the beast that time. The horrid creature was weak, broken, starving; acting on pure instinct and need to feed. And though you hated the fact, the merciful thing to do was to put it out of its misery. Before it could break free of your hold you gave it that mercy with one quick snap and it fell to the ground with its neck bent unnaturally.

As you and the boys watched it- no, the man’s face, which had been twisted and contorted like an animal’s, slowly returned to something that looked human. The man’s clothes were tattered and bloody and some obvious marks of abuse lay across the skin you could see. Maybe if you had gotten there days ago, you could have helped him, but not now, not after what Marik had done to him.

“A revenant,” you said with a defeated sigh.

“A- a what?” Yugi asked, not being able to take his eyes off of the body.

You made him look up at you, he didn’t need to see it, didn’t need to think about what the man had been put through before death. “How much do you know about vampires and how they’re turned?” you asked. Yugi shook his head, and his second-long glance at Atem told you that his resident vampire didn’t like to talk about it. “Well, there’s a reason the whole world isn’t overrun with vampires. Even if one tries to turn a human, there’s no guarantee they’ll survive. Most die during the process, like a virus tearing their bodies apart. Others who don’t turn into full-fledged vampires, but are a little too strong to die, turn into revenants. Their minds are gone, and they don’t even have the strength, speed, or healing powers that full vampires get. All they can do is act on their need to feed on blood. They’re husks, unable to think or feel, and usually too weak to survive more than a couple of days after being turned.” You let out a heavy sigh and ran your hand over your face. “Bonz said that Marik’s been taking humans from all over town. He probably tries to turn them all so he can grow his horde of minions.”

Joey’s eyes met yours, “So, when this guy didn’t look like he was going to turn full vamp, Marik locked him up in there and waited-”

“Waited for us to find him.”

Atem’s cut in made the rest of you look round, and you saw Atem, with his jaw clenched, staring into the dark depths of the closet. He stepped forward and turned on the light so the rest of you could see. There, scrawled in the sickly brown of dried blood on the wall, was a message._ “You’ll have to try harder than that, your highness!”_

Atem’s chest was heaving as he stared intently at the wall, his gaze looking as if it might start burning holes in the offwhite painted wood.

Beside you, you heard Joey question, “Your highness?”

“It’s...it’s what Marik calls Atem,” Yugi answered lowly.

The words were barely out before Atem let out a roar and drove his fist into the wall. The plaster gave way easily, looking like a busted eggshell as blood dripped down his forearm. A moment later Atem wrenched his arm back and you could see the bones and abrasions already healing. If only whatever was raging inside him was soothed so quickly.

Without a word, Atem turned on his heels and stormed down the dark hallway. Yugi, looking so forlorn that it almost broke your heart, watched him go for a second before turning to you and Joey.

“Give us a minute, kay?”

You and the wolf nodded as Yugi went after his lover. Once he was gone you turned your sights back to the body at your feet. He was young. Pale skin, head shaved, and marks on his lips, nose, and ears that said he likely had had numerous piercings. Marik, or rather, his followers likely picked him up at some rave club with the promise of a good time. Still, no matter the age, or lifestyle, no one deserved _this_.

“Can you do me a favor?” You asked, looking up at Joey, who nodded. “Can you go get a bowl of bleach water and a rag? We’ll need to clean that up,” you jerked your head at the bloody message.

When Joey started back down the stairs to do just that, you turned your sights down the row of doors in the hallway. After trying three of them, you found the linen closet, and took a nice silken white sheet from one of the shelves.

With as much respect and care as you could manage, you started wrapping the young man’s body up, arranging his limbs in a dignified pose. It wasn’t much, but it was better than rotting away in a messy heap until the owner came home. With some effort, you cast a teleportation spell and moved his body to the nearest hospital, where he might at least be returned to his family if he had one.

Seconds later Joey returned with the requested items and it didn’t take much to scrub the blood away. Bleach didn’t hide blood residue completely, but at least now when the owner returned from his work trip, he’d simply think his home was robbed and not the sight of a murder or two. You explained as much to Joey as you two walked back downstairs together.

Wanting to give the boys some more time alone, you took a moment to examine the kitchen. It was messy. Dishes stacked high, half-cut veggies lying rotting on the counter, containers of food open and forgotten on the breakfast bar. Very odd, considering vampires didn’t have to eat food and these certainly weren’t the potent types that would appeal to a vampire. And you highly doubted any homeowner with a professional job would be _this_ sloppy before leaving on a work trip.

“Joey, you said that you smelled several human scents in this house?” You asked.

The werewolf gave the air a short sniff, “Yep. And it’s not just the owner's scent either. They’re just as fresh as the other two vampire scents I’m smelling, and I’m assuming one of them is Marik’s.”

“Interesting. Well, at least this whole trip wasn’t for nothing.”

“Huh?”

For now, you only answered him with a smile before turning and wandered back into the other rooms of the house. It didn’t take much to find where Yugi and Atem had gotten to, however, when you turned the corner of said room your heart gave a bit of a flutter. They were standing close, Yugi’s hands cradling Atem’s face as he whispered soft reassurances to the vampire. Atem had his eyes closed against the affection and held his hands over Yugi’s, letting himself calm his breathing, calm his anger, under the incubus’ care.

The scene was so tender, so intimate, and found yourself having to snap out of your staring state. You turned to leave them be but the moment you whisked behind the door frame, Atem called out to you.

Feeling more sheepish than you ever remember feeling, you leaned back into their sight, “Uh, sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude.”

“You didn’t,” Atem assured gently. He turned, still holding one of Yugi’s hands in his own as he asked, “So, where does this leave us? I doubt Marik has left anything behind that might help us find him.”

“Actually, he did. He really needs to learn to clean up after himself, or rather, clean up after his traveling companions. There’s evidence that humans and one other vampire were staying here with him.”

Atem raised an eyebrow, “Wouldn’t those humans be the ones he’s been killing and trying to turn?”

“I doubt he’s feeding the ones he’s killing.”

“So how does that help us?” Yugi asked, trying to sound hopeful.

“One thing that’s always hurt my investigation before, was the fact that even Marik’s followers don’t seem to know anything about him. Even though they’re doing his bidding, they don’t seem to have much interaction with him. But Joey’s nose and the mess in the kitchen proves that he has at least a few close followers who’re staying with him. Chances are one or all of them are the ones who go out and do his dirty work.”

Yugi smirked, “So if we find them, we’ll find Marik.”

“But how exactly do we find a lead on these close followers?” Atem asked a bit briskly.

That was the part that made your stomach clench like a vice. You knew you wouldn’t be able to avoid it for long, not with your limited resources now that you were severed from the Circle. The mere thought of this resort made your skin crawl a bit, but, you just couldn’t stand seeing Atem so upset at the loss of a lead. If any of your contacts had any info about these special lackeys, it would be the long-haired city lord himself.

You let yourself heave a heavy sigh, “I think it’s time we pay a visit to Pegasus.”


	6. Author's note

I am so sorry this isn't an actual update to the story, and I know these aren't very common here on AO3 but I still felt the need to tell you guys this so you weren't left in the dark. 

To get straight to the point: there won't be an update for a while. During the past couple of weeks, there was a personal situation that occurred and it has affected me in a very negative way. I won't go into detail, but I'll be honest in saying that I'm in no mental state to write right now and I'm not sure when I will be in a better state again. I'm trying to move on and heal from what happened and don't worry, I'm still very interested in continuing this story, it just may be a while before I can.

Thank you all for your continued support and patience, I hope I can come back to this story soon and that you guys won't lose interest in it in the meantime. Hope you're all doing well, I'll post for you again (hopefully) soon.


	7. Six: Speakeasies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone, I'm finally back with a new chapter! Thank you so much to everyone who left me lovely and supportive messages on my author's note, knowing my readers were so supportive helped me get through that personal incident a lot easier. You guys are honestly the best! I took my time to get back in a better place and was able to get back to writing a few weeks ago, thus, the new chapter.   
I know life is still pretty insane right now, and all I can say is that I hope all of you and your loved ones are managing to stay safe and healthy during this uncertain time. Let this chapter give you a moment's distraction from all the crazy out there <3

“So who exactly is this Peggy guy?”

You almost wanted to snort in laughter at Joey’s nickname, and if it wasn’t for the knot in your stomach, you probably would have. “Pegasus, his name is Pegasus. And to answer your question, he’s a very prominent vampire in Domino. He owns a club that’s exclusive for highbrow fey and he’s been here for a good century or two.”

“And the circle just ignores his existence?” Atem asked.

Though his tone was devoid of anything accusatory (at least towards you) you still felt an uncomfortable tingle at the back of your neck at his words. “Not exactly,” you finally answered, “They have an...understanding with Pegasus. He’s supposed to give the circle information on his patrons if they’re doing anything wrong, but we all know he doesn’t, unless it’s something really big that’ll earn him favors from the Circle. Everyone also knows he has some shady dealings, and he toes the line of the Circle’s laws a lot. Still, he doesn’t go around blatantly killing humans or causing havoc, so they mostly leave him be. I guess you could say he’s a bit like a mob boss.”

Atem only answered with a sigh and looked away. Again that uncomfortable tingle crawled across your neck. Atem’s mood was still low from what little you had found at Marik’s last hideout. It was obvious that the place had been abandoned days and days ago, but you still felt an almost painful twinge of guilt in your stomach when you saw how much it pained Atem to have him slip away again.

You took the lapse in silence to look up at the sky, examining the clouds collecting overhead. The four of you were walking down the busy streets of downtown, the upscale, higher end of downtown with lots of private boutiques and day spas. The sun was just starting to set now, it was a good time to hit Pegasus’ club, less patrons to cause trouble, but enough that Pegasus would be less willing to cause some himself. Can’t look bad in front of the customers, after all.

“Do magicians come to his club often?” Yugi asked suddenly, and when you turned to look at him, you could see the worry in his lavender eyes.

You managed a small smile at him. “Don’t worry, Yugi, he rarely gets visits from the Circle. In fact, I’m one of the few magicians he’ll talk to...he’s a bit of a primadonna and usually demands to see ‘his favorites’ from the Circle only.”

“And how exactly did you become a favorite?” Joey asked, and you tried not to take the bite in his tone personally.

“When I was young and training under an older magician, my instructor and I got called to his club to arrest some trouble makers tearing the place up. In that particular moment he didn’t much care who from the Circle came to help him, but apparently he liked my…. spunk and started requesting me personally when dealing with the Circle.”

Joey gave a grunt of understanding but was obviously still unconvinced that this was a good idea with the way he averted his eyes to stare blankly ahead. Again the silence between you and the others caused you to get lost in your thoughts for a moment, mostly focusing on how all of this may go down. Atem wasn’t going to like what you were planned to suggest once you got there, but he would just have to learn to take his overprotectiveness and- 

You sighed and mentally scolded yourself for the harsh thought. Atem’s protectiveness wasn’t him thinking you were weak, he just wanted to keep you safe. He and Yugi both cared about you. The feeling that rose in your chest at the thought made your fists clench. It wasn’t an uncomfortable feeling, per se, but it wasn’t familiar to you and the fact that it had crept up more and more around the boys made you want to stuff it back down to wherever it had come from.

In fact, you had to do exactly that now, seeing as how the club was in sight. You stopped in your track and waited for the boys to turn to face you with questioning looks before you spoke up.

“Alright, this is the place,” you said, waving at the well-kempt brick building. 

It had large windows beside the ornate double oak doors but said windows were covered by thick, red velvet curtains. There was no sign on the building, leaving the passing humans to only stare and wonder what the place was, if they took notice at all.

Though he didn’t want to be too flashy and have humans constantly knocking on his club's door, Pegasus still left his own posh mark on the exterior. The fire escape stairs were painted bright red and had vines twisted around it, growing flowers that would bloom when the sunset; a symbol to indicate just who his particular clientele were. Then, on the roof, he had added on more brick additions to the building, a short tower on each corner, his personal living quarters and studios if you remembered right. The whole place looked like he was trying to make his own English castle in downtown Domino.

You sighed and looked back at the boys, “Listen, I’m going to need to go in and see Pegasus alone.”

“What?” Atem’s tone was flat and, given the setting sun, he actually took off his sunglasses so you could fully see the displeased look in his crimson eyes.

“I know you don’t like the idea, but he’ll get suspicious if I walk in with three random fey. As it is, he’s one of my contacts that the circle knows about, so I’m already having to hide this,” you flashed your palm, the pink scar of your magician’s seal, at them, “from him to avoid suspicion. I’ll get more info out of him if I’m alone.”

You saw Atem bite his tongue, quite literally, and seem to contemplate what to respond with. In the end, he closed his eyes and let out a long breath. “As you wish. But I want the rest of us to stay close so that if anything happens, we can help.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll signal you if I need help,” you assured, relief flooding you as another argument was avoided. 

“How will you signal us?” Joey asked, crossing his arms, “An’ just for the record, I’m not a fan of waiting.”

You actually smirked at him before looking back at the brick building for a moment. “If you three stay here you’ll be able to see when I give you the signal,” you actually winked as you turned back to them, “you’ll know it, trust me.” With that, you turned on your heel and started walking towards the door. “I won’t be long, just hold tight.”

“Be careful,” Atem called after you, apparently having to act on at least some of his protector instincts.

You almost managed to look over your shoulder and give him an assuring smile, but seeing the doors to Pegasus’ club made a begrudging air fall back on your shoulders. 

Then, still about a dozen feet from said doors, you heard Yugi call out to you. Surprised, considering how quiet he had been since leaving Marik’s old hideout, you turned to him, brows furrowed. He was jogging after you, putting some distance between himself and the other two and he stopped right in front of you.

He looked a bit nervous himself and his tone was low as he said, “I just wanted to check on you before you went in. Ever since you started talking about coming here you’ve just...you’ve had this...anxiety around you. Are you okay?”

That unfamiliar sensation started in your chest again, especially with how sweet Yugi’s eyes were on you. Sometimes you forgot that incubi could sense more than just lustful emotions, that they were full empaths.

“Uh, yeah, I’ll be okay, Yugi,” you answered lamely, then continued since you knew that wouldn’t satisfy him. “It’s just that Pegasus has always kind of creeped me out, that’s all.” 

You felt stupid for saying it, out of all the things you had seen (and done) in your years, it shouldn’t be easy to make your skin crawl. Then again, the fact that he kept his dead wife’s body preserved with magic and had it displayed in a glass coffin Snow White style was bound to creep most people out.

Yugi’s eyes narrowed a bit at your omission and you were glad you left out the dead wife detail. “Does he try anything with you when you go to see him? I can make us invisible, like I did at the Sanctuary, so we can go in with you. I’ll make sure that creep doesn’t-”

“Yugi.” He stopped his almost-rant at your firm word, though you couldn’t help but inwardly smile at Yugi wanting to defend your ‘honor’. “I’ll be fine, I promise. And I swear if I need your guy’s help, I’ll ask for it.”

The sweet incubus sighed, then reached out and took your hand, holding it just long enough to give it an affectionate squeeze. “We’ll be right here.”

You almost had the chance to squeeze his hand back before he pulled away, though you had to ignore the urge to ask yourself why you wanted to hold it just a moment longer. With another breath, you turned away and walked the last few feet to Pegasus’ club.

You knocked on the ornately painted doors thrice, slow and steady just like Pegasus had told you to all those years ago when he first requested your presence. The eye-level slat in the door opened to reveal a pair of yellow irises that seemed to glow in the dying daylight. You kept your face blank as you stared back at him and waited. A grunt and an “oh, it’s you” later, and the slat was shut with a snap, the door opening a second after.

“Good to see you again too, Saru,” you mumbled as you stepped inside. 

The large henchman shut the door behind you and Pegasus’ haven for posh fey was splayed out before you. The whole place was bedecked in lush reds, thick carpet with simple but old designs, curtains and drapes covering the walls and hanging from the ceiling, blocking out the outside world and its troubles. A set of three steps in front of the door led to the main area where guests sat. Dozens of finely carved tables with matching chairs, leather settees, and armchairs filled the main room, with wide enough paths for people to walk through without feeling crowded. 

Then there were the private booths. Vases on pillar-shaped stands as well as fine art lined the walls between each booth notched into the walls. Some had curtains drawn over them for privacy, others sat with them wide open. Only a dozen or so people occupied the venue now, not including the string band playing on the stage to the right. A rather quiet night it seemed.

As you stepped inside you tried to ignore the silhouette of a woman dancing behind one of the curtained-off booths, two patrons watching her from their seats behind the red cloth. More so was it hard to ignore the young man sitting on a vampire’s lap, baring his neck to the older man’s fangs with eyes half-lidded and smile wide, euphoric even. 

Some of the other patrons actually took notice of you as you marched across the room to the lavishly painted pocket doors on the other side. A man from one of the booths watched you like a hawk, stirring his amber-colored drink with his finger and not bothering to hide the suspicion in his single eye. A woman with delicate-looking wings smiled at you as you passed, trying to make eye contact with you so she might compel you to join her seat by the fireplace. Other eyes, vampire, cyclops, nymph, and otherwise burned into you from all sides but you ignored them, keeping sights on the silver haired man guarding the double doors that cordoned off Pegasus’ private room.

“I need to speak with his royal highness,” you said, dropping mood evident in your flat tone.

This henchman always wore his thick sunglasses even inside, but you could tell he was glaring down at you behind them. “Master Pegasus is entertaining a guest at the moment,” he snapped, obviously forgetting that Peggy himself had ordered his staff to treat you kindly whenever you stopped by. He must have remembered those instructions now, because he put on a mocking smile, showing his fangs as he waved at the table beside the vampire feasting on the young man, “Please, have a seat and I’ll call you over when he’s free.”

You felt a sneer take over your face as you took a step closer to the man, he was taller than you, but height didn’t mean jack when he had seen what you were capable of. “I don’t think your boss wants me to sit down. Because if I do, I might have time to start asking that vampire if he has a legal contract to suck on that human. Or how about the succubus feasting on the two men in the corner booth?”

The man sniffed, nose wrinkling as if a rotten smell was shoved under his flaring nostrils. “I assure you, all of our patrons practice legal feeding.”

“Hm, that may be, but a magician going around asking questions and ruining their night is still bad for business.”

Looking downright livid now, he opened his mouth to say something biting in reply, but was cut off by a drawling voice coming out from the crack between the doors behind him.

“Oh let her in you fool. You know I love it when my sweet magician girl visits me!”

The overly sweet croon in his tone made your scowl deepen, even as the head suit slid the door open with a grumbled, “Yes sir”. 

Pegasus had changed his private room a bit since you last visited him. Instead of the long dining table, he sat at a smaller round one covered in a beautiful white silk cloth. The china dishes, crystal wine glasses, chandelier, and candelabra centerpiece were all the same though.

“It’s so good to see you again, my sweet!” Pegasus all but cheered, a smile turning his lips as he swirled his wine glass full of red thick liquid that smelled of iron. He was wearing one of his favorite red suits trimmed in white lace and his long curtains of silver hair were styled to perfection. “To what do I owe this pleasure? What do you need from dear old Pegasus?” he asked before taking a sip of his drink.

A scan of the empty chairs around the table told you that Peggy’s right-hand man had lied when saying that he was entertaining someone, as the only other souls in the large room were his two bodyguards.

“I came to ask for information,” you said, crossing your arms as you looked down at him. 

The vampire chuckled, the sound deep and dangerous as he set his glass down and looked at you through his long lashes. “Now now, my dear, there’s no need to take that impatient tone with me. You know I’m always willing to help you when I can. So long as you pay my entry fee, of course.” With that, Pegasus held out his hand, palm up and looking delicate as it waited.

Your body tensed at the gesture, even though you had been expecting it. Aside from his all-around creep factor, and the fact that you hated owing him favors, this was the main reason you hated crawling to Pegasus. 

Trying to resist the urge to sigh, you skirted the table and approached him. You placed your left hand in his, wrist up and veins vulnerable. He pulled you closer as he gripped your wrist and leaned his face into the warm skin.

“No need to be nervous, my sweet,” Pegasus practically purred, “you know I’m always a perfect gentleman.”

The way he ran his nose along the veins made your stomach crawl and heave; you were glad he couldn’t see (or didn’t care about) the sickened look on your face.

“Oh my,” he said with a tisk tisk sound, then flickered his eyes up to yours, not leaning away from your wrist in the slightest. “You’ve been cheating on me, my sweet little magician. I can smell another vampire in your veins.”

The memory of Atem feeding from you made a different heat crawl up your neck, but it mixed with another sick feeling as you envisioned Atem seeing you like this. It was a good thing you had made him and Yugi stay outside, or Pegasus would probably be on the ground by now.

“I’ve never said we were exclusive, Pegasus,” you said, hiding the shamed embarrassment behind quips. Besides, it paid to play along with his sick little games.

He chuckled at that, “Right you are, my dear.” Without another word, he sank his fangs into your wrist.

You tried not to flinch as the curative on his fangs flooded your nerves. Even with the numbing effect they provided, it was still uncomfortable to feel him tearing into your skin. Though he feigned kindness and worry, his fangs had none of the gentle care that Atem’s did, none of the soothing thumb strokes or caution to not dig in too deep, just enough to draw what was needed. Pegasus’ treatment was all mock gentleness; a sickly sweet whisper while sharp nails dug into bruised skin.

He never took much, thank god, but the moment still seemed to crawl by before he was retracting his fangs. He gave a satisfied, dramatic sigh, “My dear, your blood simply gets better and better every time you come to see me, like a finely crafted wine.” He chuckled at his own comparison as he pulled the white handkerchief from his breast pocket. 

Though his puncture marks were already closing, blood has still dripped out from the wound and he dapped at your wrist, again with that mocking care. You supposed he thought licking blood from your skin was too uncouth or savage-like because this was his usual routine. 

The moment his grip on you slackened at all, you pulled free of his grasp, “Now that I’ve given you your usual payment, I have some questions to ask you,” the attempt to keep any snap or malic free from your tone failed, but Pegasus didn’t seem to mind at all.

“Of course my dear, always happy to help!” He waved at the seat across from him at the round table, “But I must insist that you take a seat, I do hate seeing you stand the whole time.” He snapped his fingers at the guard on his left, “Get our guest a glass of wine!”

Again, knowing it paid to play his game, you skirted the table back to the side of the room nearest the door and took the seat there. Now that the worst part of visiting the vampire lord was over, you made yourself look at ease as you leaned back, arm propped up against the ornately carved chair. A third vampire guard came into the room from the door to the right of Pegasus, carrying a dusty bottle of red wine. He poured it into the crystal glass in front of you, but you paid the alcohol no mind, instead looking the newcomer over. He was young, or at least, young when he was turned, but likely hadn’t been a vampire long judging by the way he held himself. Marik wasn’t the only one who tried to turn the humans he drained in order to get more servants. You had always had your suspicions that such a practice was a reason Pegasus turned on his clients to get in the Circle’s favor. They were all too willing to turn a blind eye to the occasional human going ‘missing’ if it meant having a good informant.

“He’s new,” you commented as the man leaned back but did not leave the room. 

Pegasus ignored your observation. “So my dear, what is it that you need from me? I promise I’ll help in any way I can.”

“I heard that the cult leader Marik has given you some trouble recently. Tell me about it.”

The vampire hummed as he took another drink of the thick liquid in his glass. He waited a beat after he was done, closing his eyes and holding his hand to his chin. “Ah yes, that loathsome little nat. His thugs thought it would be funny to terrorize one of my other clubs. Tore the place up rather well too, before my men could deal with them.” He opened his eyes again and held your gaze, “If you’re wondering why I didn’t call the Circle for help, I assure you such thuggish heathens were nothing to worry about.”

“That’s not what I’m wondering,” you clarified, though you were sure an illegal dealing or two at said club was the real reason. “I want you to tell me everything you know about Marik. I’m sure after that you must know something about him...or maybe his right-hand vampire?”

Again Pegasus waited a moment to respond, then, he nodded at the man on his right. “Go fetch Kemo, he might be able to tell her a thing or two about the incident,” he turned his sights back on you, “As for myself, well, I’m sure I don’t know any more than the Circle does about this Marik boy. He’s a roach, but he’s good at evading capture like one too.” He tapped his chin then, and it actively came to mind how much he was drawing this out. Then again, Pegasus always was a showman. “But since you mentioned his right hand, there is something I can tell you. After the incident, Marik sent one of his followers here to tell me that he hadn’t ordered his thugs to attack my establishment and that he had dealt with them thoroughly. I was shocked to say the least, I assumed someone as chaotic as this Marik wouldn’t care about smoothing things over, but perhaps he simply didn’t want to risk me going after his followers in retaliation.”

“What did this follower he send look like?” you asked, trying not to seem too eager.

“Oh he was a strapping young vampire,” Pegasus crooned, “very tall and muscular, with tan skin and dark hair. The most distinguishing factor, however, was the tattoo on his face.” Another long drink taken after the statement almost made you growl impatiently. “If the design being on his face wasn’t odd enough, the fact that it was of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs makes it all the more strange.”

So, Marik’s right-hand man was someone from, or at least interested in, Egypt. Interesting. “Is there anything else you can tell me about him or anything he said to you while he was here?”

Again, Pegasus took his sweet time answering, and as he did, Kemo, as well as two other bodyguards, came into the room. The fact that they, as well as the guard who had poured your drink, were now filling the room did not go unnoticed by you.

“Besides his surprisingly calm demeanor, no, I’m afraid there isn’t,” the vampire gave a bit of a dramatic sigh. “I’m sorry my dear, but surely that distinguishing factor will help you…” his eyes narrowed on you then, shifting from that drama queen act to the dangerous man you knew he was underneath. “I’m sure the Circle will appreciate the information, be sure to give it to them when you return. In the meantime, please, drink. You haven’t touched your wine.”

The familiar burn of adrenaline was starting in your veins now, but all the same, you sighed. You didn’t exactly relish making a mess. “You know I don’t drink while working, Pegasus. And besides that, did you really think I wouldn’t notice your goons closing in?”

He chuckled darkly in response, “I don’t make a habit out of underestimating you, my dear, but I’m afraid it’s too late. Other magicians are already on their way here, you best just wait for them. And please, don’t take this personally. As much as I adore your visits, turning a traitor over to the Circle will earn me quite a large favor with them. It’s just business, after all.”

Again you sighed, staying in our laid back position despite the fact that two more goons stepped into the room. “It’s your funeral, Pegasus,” your eyes drifted to the young vampire, who still held the wine bottle and seemed to be sweating bullets. “You really should have stayed home from work today, kid.”

With that your leg came up swift and hard, launching the table and its contents into the air as you sprang up. Your full wine glass was halfway back down when you grabbed it, smashed the end on your chair, and stabbed the remaining stem into the neck of the first vampire that made to grab you.

***

Yugi tried to keep his eyes on something that would distract him, like observing the old building before them, but the sound of his boyfriend’s pacing feet was too much to ignore.

“Atem, will you please calm down,” Yugi sighed, turning to face the agitated vampire. 

Joey, who was leaning against the brick wall of the closed beauty shop next door, stretched his arms over his head. “Yug is right, stressin’ won’t get you anywhere.”

“She’s been in there too long. What if she’s hurt? Gods know what that man could be doing to her.”

“She wouldn’t have gone in if she didn’t at least trust this Pegasus guy a little,” Yugi countered. “Besides, she told us she would give us a signal if she needed help, she isn’t stupid.”

Atem halted his pacing and clenched his fists. “I know. But that doesn’t mean I’m not worried about her. Besides, how will we even know what-”

His words were cut off by the sound of shattering glass. They spun around, towards the large windows of the building and saw a man crashing through the glass. A wine bottle flew from his hand, clattering and clinking against the concrete as he landed hard. If there was any question on who this man was, it was answered when he sprang to his feet, raw flesh of his face already healing, and started running down the alley, yelling about how the pay wasn’t worth “this”.

“I guess that’s the signal,” Joey shrugged before the four of them descended on the new opening into the club, two well-dressed patrons running out as they did.

The sounds of a fight grew louder and the moment they came to the opening, Yugi almost had to do a double-take. Across the room two doors hung broken on their hinges, revealing an ornate dining room with more shattered glass and an upturned dining table. There in the middle of it all was you fighting off three- no, four (five?) fey clad in suits.

One made to grab you but you dodged and grabbed the back of his jacket, pulling it down to help hinder his arms as you set the fabric on fire. The man cried out as you kicked him, sending his now aflame body into one of his comrades. Without missing a beat you sidestepped another punch with grace, silver flashing in your hand as you came up and slashed the blade of your dagger across the vampire’s neck.

“Eh, you sure she actually needs help?” Joey asked, though he was immediately answered as Atem charged in with a growl of anger.

A vampire that had been hanging back tried to get a jump on your turned back, but Atem grabbed him by the arm and sent him flying across the decadent red room. That’s when Yugi spotted a door to their right burst open and even more minions came charging in. Not just vampires this time, one was a troll of sorts, another some minor race of demon, and a third who must have been a werewolf because he sniffed the air and turned excited eyes on Joey, canine teeth flashing.

In response, his old friend growled and descended on the newcomers, extended claws clashing with the other wolf. 

Though you seemed to have confidence in him and Yugi was not above defending himself, he still wasn’t one for much violence. And if he was being honest with himself, Yugi wasn’t sure how much help he could be in the current chaos. The few patrons who hadn’t fled as soon as the window was open now ran past Yugi in varying stages of terror, or at least with a despondent air of ‘nope’. All except one, a nymph by a fireplace who sat reclined in her chair, calmly sipping her drink as if this was simply a mildly entertaining interactive play.

Yugi’s attention was snapped from the nymph as he caught sight of the troll stomping towards the room where you and Atem were fighting back to back. Mind working fast, Yugi’s wings flared and launched him into the air, courtesy of the building’s high ceilings. As he flew towards you he snatched a thick golden rope from the ground, a curtain accent that had been tossed to the floor in the mayhem.

He saw Atem punch another vampire in the gut, quickly grab the back of his jacket, and toss the man to you. Your hand met with the vampire’s face with a burning grasp, instantly rendering the man helpless as he howled in pain and tried to extinguish the flames across his skin. 

Not a moment later however, did the troll make himself known by grunting in disapproval and raising his fists- with both you and Atem within his long reach. Atem made to grab you, likely to pull you out of harm's way but Yugi got their first. With the troll’s arms still lifted for a strike, Yugi flew past, lassoing the fancy rope around the attacker’s wrists.

Just as swiftly, Yugi’s wings carried him down and between the troll’s legs (at least his small size was good for one thing). The troll grunted as his arms were pulled back by the lead of rope now trailing between his own legs. 

Yugi landed in front of you and Atem, extended the now short end of the rope and said, “Pull!”

The strength of all three of you combined was enough to pull the giant off balance and he came tumbling down with an earth-shaking  _ thud _ . You took over from there, pulling a small pouch of something from your jacket and tossing it at the troll. With the flash of a spell, the pouch burst into a fine powder that fell onto the struggling heap of a giant, who quickly ceased all movement.

“My my, bravo!” Called a bright, though almost drawling, voice. 

Yugi turned and finally noticed someone else that was apparently completely at home in the chaos. A silver-haired man sat in a fine-looking chair by the upturned table, lazily sipping from a crystal wine glass.

He flashed Yugi an interested smile, “And who might this handsome, young incubus be? Sexy demons, vampires, and werewolves, my my you do keep interesting company these days, my dear magician girl.”

“We need to get out of here,” you snapped, ignoring who Yugi assumed was Pegasus. “He’s sent word to the Circle and they’ll be here any minute.”

“They’re trying to block our only exit,” Atem hissed and Yugi turned to see that he was right, the few remaining lackies that Joey wasn’t fighting off were now blocking the large open window.

“Yugi, if I clear your way do you think you can grab Joey and fly out of here?” you asked.

“What about you and Atem?” he almost snapped back in worry.

“I think I can teleport us out, but Pegasus has seals up that make that difficult, otherwise I’d just teleport all four of us out. I think I can manage with just me and Atem though.”

“So, Yugi, Atem, and Joey,” Pegasus crooned from his seat, “Interesting, I’ll have to keep an eye on all four of you then!”

Obviously the boss had no intentions of getting his hands dirty by trying to stop their group, so Yugi took your lead and ignored him, instead nodding to your plan. That was all the confirmation you needed because you turned to the fey blocking the exit with raised hands.

“Get ready.”

A moment later you pulled your arms back, only to thrust them forward with a shout! Yugi felt an invisible force brush past him, but the few bodyguards by the window got more than a passing breeze. Instead, they were all thrown off their feet, some colliding with the wall, one flying through the broken window, and another flung across the room. 

Yugi knew he had to move fast so, though it felt wrong to leave you and Atem behind, he put his trust in you and launched back into the air. Joey had already overpowered the goons he descended on and was looking about the room to figure out what to do next when Yugi called out to him. Joey’s eyes darted up to meet his and the moment Yugi extended his hand, the wolf understood.

The incubus grabbed the hand he held out and flew for the window, heart racing when he saw that some of the henchmen were already getting back to their feet. Joey took care of that however and delivered a swift kick to the head of the demon that made to snatch them out of the air.

The moment they cleared the jagged glass, Yugi shot upward towards the dark sky like a bullet. Once high enough Yugi slowed his ascent and hovered in the air with steady wing beats as he looked down at the ground, searching for any sign of you and Atem, or Circle mages closing in.

“Please be okay,” he whispered to himself.

***

“Come on!” your call drew Atem’s attention even before you grabbed his hand.

Turning, you tried to make a break for the nearest door, so that you might have some distance between yourself and Pegasus’ henchmen, but the ones by the window were already rising to their feet again. The demon looked absolutely livid as blood from a freshly broken nose streamed down his face. He locked eyes on you and Atem just as you turned to run.

“No!”

Arms wrapped around your waist and with a firm strength, you were thrown to the side. Atem held tight to you as you both crashed through french-style sliding doors, bodies hitting the wood as you collided with the ground. 

You shook your head to halt the dizzying sensation, as well as the ache echoing through your body at the hard impact. With a quick glance at Pegasus’ dining room, you saw the burning residue of acid eating away at the wall sconce that likely would have been your head had Atem not thrown you out of the way. Huh, first time you had ever met an acid-spitting demon before.

“Gotta move,” you grunted, pain making the words lame as you tried to jump to your feet. 

It would have been impossible with Atem still holding onto you had he not moved at the same time. Again you grabbed his arm as they slid from your waist and you bolted down the narrow hallway you had fallen into. Using the same spell that had knocked the cronies off their feet, you blew open the other door at the end of the hallway, and the moment you were on the other side, Atem slammed it back shut.

With a jerk on the arm you were holding, you made Atem face you. “This is going to be uncomfortable,” you warned before grabbing his other hand and closing your eyes.

Pegasus’ seals were weak, but they still made the task of teleporting out of the building quite taxing on your already depleted energy. With careful patience, you pushed through the blockages, feeling for the weak spot in the magic, like a light breaking through rubble. The moment you found it you cast your spell and the both of you were zapped out of Pegasus’ reach.

Now, to be technical, you weren’t  _ exactly _ sure what it felt like to be shrunken down and stuffed into a tube that was still two sizes too small for your body, but, if you had to take a guess, you would assume the sensation was similar to the turmoil of teleporting. The fact that you had to push past the vampire’s seals only made the uncomfortable journey twice as torturous. A second later you found yourself stumbling across tarry ground, ankles aching from the hard, sudden contact. Unfortunately, Atem had less experience with the sensation than you did and tumbled to the ground, his still firm grip on you taking you down with him.

You lay there for a moment as you caught your breath, but Atem quickly sat up on his elbow and looked you over. “Are you alright?”

“F-fine,” you panted, “told you I’d let you know when things went south.”

He let out a huff of laughter, “Indeed.”

After waiting a beat, he got to his feet and held his hand out to you. You took the offer and let him pull you to your feet as his eyes scanned your new surroundings. You had landed them on the roof of a bookshop/apartment a good block and a half from Pegasus’ club. Close enough to regroup with Yugi and Joey, but far enough that you could hopefully avoid being spotted by any approaching magicians.

Speaking of, before Atem was even done scanning the rooftop, you heard your name called through the air, succeeded by Atem’s name a beat later. You both looked up to see Yugi soaring through the air, Joey dangling from his hands. The moment he was over the roof, Joey let go and stuck his landing, Yugi dropping down right beside him.

“Are you two okay?” the incubus asked, eyes looking over your face. You realized there might be a fresh bruise or two forming there, judging by the concern on his face and the pain that was getting harder to ignore as the rush of the fight fizzled out.

“I’m fine,” you assured, the words sounding more flat than you meant as you looked over at Atem. Of course he was fine, any injury sustained in there, against other vampires, would have healed by now.

“So, you find out anything before Peggy ratted you out to the circle?” Joey asked, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

You nodded, “Pegasus likes to talk, and he was doing just that while trying to stall me, hoping I wouldn’t notice. He said that he actually met with one of Marik’s followers, who he assumed is close to Marik. Even gave me an accurate description we may be able to use.”

“And you believe he was actually telling the truth?” Atem asked, “He could have made up anything to keep your attention.”

“True, but, I don’t think he was lying. I’ve seen him lie before and he knows I’m trained to sense deception. He would have tipped his hand to me quicker if he risked lying.” You let out a sigh, trying to remind yourself that, though both leads had turned into trials that day, you were at least getting small pieces of the Marik puzzle. “Anyway, we need to get moving, the Circle’s Magicians are likely already here and it won’t take them long to start searching the area for us.”

“Do you want to head back home?” Yugi asked as you all made your way to the fire escape.

You hesitated for a moment. The night was still young, and, given how agitated Atem still seemed, it might be nice to get at least one inch closer in your search. “Actually, if you’re up for it, there’s one more place I want to hit up. But I promise it’s less likely to end in a fight.”

As you started down the grated steps, Atem looked over his shoulder and quirked an eyebrow at you. “A more trusted informant? Or just a less violent one?”

“Neither, really. You remember me saying I have a friend who owns a bar?”

***

Clubs and bars that catered to all brands of fey were scattered across the city, more commonly than one might think. Much like Pegasus’ haven, they mostly hid in plain sight, relying on word of mouth to gather patrons and a bouncer at the door to keep any unsuspecting humans from wandering in. They also did their best to keep under the radar of the Circle, thanks to common dealings that were less than legal. You supposed in many ways, they could be compared to the speakeasies of the prohibition era. 

Thankfully, Mai’s place had no such reputation and she always made sure her patrons took their questionable acts elsewhere. That, paired with the fact that Mai had far more loyalty to you than the Circle, made you pretty confident that her pub was more than safe from unwanted magician company.

“I texted the address to Anzu, she says she’ll be here soon,” Yugi said, stuffing his phone back in his pocket as your small group walked. After telling him that Mai would probably insist on all of you eating there, he had wanted to invite Anzu to join them, not only to update her on what the four of you had found out, but likely just to have a friendly meal together. End the day on a happier note, so to speak.

“I don’t know about you guys, but I could use a burger or two!” Joey yawned as he stretched his arms over his head.

“Don’t worry, Mai’s cook makes some good burgers,” you assured lightly, even as your well-trained eyes kept alert on the darkened streets. “Not as good as Yugi’s but…” you shrugged as you trailed off, but did not miss the way Yugi gave a small, proud smile as he averted his eyes to the ground.

Though the night was young there weren’t many wanderers in this part of the city. It wasn’t a high-end neighborhood in the slightest, but it wasn’t a city slum like where Bonz lived, instead hovering somewhere safely in the middle. The low traffic streets also made putting your nerves at ease simpler. Knowing that you and your companions had escaped capture from the Circle so easily had put you on edge and it was hard to calm that down. Though you had been careful to take every precaution while sneaking away from Pegasus’ domain, it still felt too...simple. Too lucky.

You nearly jumped when you felt a gentle hand on your back and turned to meet Atem’s eyes. They were full of concern as he said, “What’s wrong?”

You looked back for a moment, then averted your gaze. “Nothing. Just on edge.” Thankfully, the turn that would lead to your destination was within reach a beat later. “Mai’s place is just around this corner.”

Atem’s eyes glanced in the direction you were pointing but obviously knew that you were just trying to change the subject as he didn’t seem satisfied with your answer. Still, he let the topic drop, at least for now, as you picked up the pace just a bit and turned the corner. 

It was a wide alleyway, almost completely devoid of any trash or litter thanks to Mai’s perfectionism and desire to look like a respectable establishment. The only indicator that there was an establishment there at all, was the modified neon sign hanging above a stairway that dipped into the ground, leading to the basement level. The sign, that almost looked more fitting to psychic's shop, read ‘Harpie’s Fortune’ with a mystic eye placed between the two words. 

The boys followed as you jogged down the stairs and you four barely fit at the bottom, having to wait a moment as you knocked on the door. A more pleasant face than the one at Pegasus’s club met you when the door’s window slid open.

“Hey, Honda, I need to speak to Mai,” you informed, almost interrupted by a loud growl coming from Joey’s stomach. “...And I need to get my friends some food.” 

You almost laughed with the amendment, but the bouncer actually did as he unlocked the door. “Sure thing!” Honda, a tall muscly gorgon demon, swung the door open and stepped aside, waving the four of you in. “You should take the booth at the back, I’ll let Mai know you’re here.”

“Thanks, Honda. We have another friend coming, cute brunette named Anzu-”

“Oh, yeah, I know her! She’s a regular on ladies night,” the gorgon cut in, “I’ll show her to your table when she gets here,” his assurance was paired with a flash of a smile, one that almost hid his fangs and you actually returned it as you and your friends stepped inside. 

When he shut the door behind Joey, Honda started skirting his way around the tables to the back room where Mai’s office was. It wasn’t a lavish, decadent place like the one downtown, but the pub had a laid back, relaxed air. A simple but clean (Mai’s work, once again) bar complete with a line of stools that were almost always packed. Tables filled the center of the room, plain wood and metal but comfortable enough for an after-work drink. Booths with faded red upholstery and more wooden tables lined the walls for maximum occupancy. Top it off with a few TVs hung high, some cityscape pictures on the brick walls and good- though greasy, food and you had yourself a cozy bar for folks who were just looking to relax.

It wasn’t a horribly busy night, only half or so of the seats filled, but it was packed enough for Mai’s liking for sure. Usually you opted to sit at the bar where Mai would easily spot you...and decipher your mood from afar in order to whip up a drink accordingly- but that was beside the point. Tonight however, you took Honda’s advice and wove towards a booth in the corner, one of the longer ones that would accommodate your group as well as give privacy. 

An oni demon leaning against the bar called your name in a passing greeting, flexing his arm before laughing to himself. When Joey turned to you with an interested eyebrow raise you scratched the back of your neck. “It’s a reference to the time I beat him in an arm wrestling match. Got the whole bar into a debate on whether or not magic should be allowed to counter his natural strength,” you explained, in a light tone.

“Hope it didn’t end in a bar fight,” Yugi said, clearly amused. 

“Nah, he was actually a good sport about it. Believe me, if he wasn’t Mai would have made him regret it.”

You almost went on, recalling the very few other times you had actually been sociable at the bar, but Atem chose that moment to cut in, his eyes scanning the venue with a wary kind of caution. 

“There are humans here.”

Indeed, a quick once over of the place revealed, to a keen eye, that there were at least four humans scattered around. One was curled up in the arms of a dryad, the couple lounging in a booth, looking sleepy but perfectly content as they cuddled. Another was playing a hand of poker with a pair of werewolves, a siren, and a vampire, complaining that he was losing hand-over-fist with a teasing and jovial air. Two others were sitting at the bar with three female demons of varying races, dressed as if starting a night out on the town.

“Yup,” you said in answer. “Most clubs like this aren’t safe for humans to visit, but Mai makes sure that humans who know about the fey world are welcomed here and aren’t given any trouble. Makes it a particularly popular spot for...I guess you’d call them, interracial couples?” Your eyes lingered on the couple in the booth, as the dryad leaned in and pressed a soft, chaste kiss on her girlfriend’s forehead.

Atem followed your gaze and for a second you thought he might smile at the tender scene, but a stony look remained firm on his face. “There was a human at Pegasus’s club as well,” he started in a flat tone, slowing his pace as you neared the corner booth. “He was with an older vampire and looked half dazed. Does Mai condone vampires and other monsters entrapping unsuspecting humans?”

The bite in his tone actually stung a little, though it was hard to decipher if it was directed at you or not. “No, she doesn’t. The few times she’s seen a...suspicious couple, she’s always called me to look into it.” 

A thought crossed your mind with that. It wouldn’t surprise you if Atem was truly mad over how such partnerships were handled by the circle, considering the one at Peggy’s club likely wouldn’t even receive a slap on the wrist for his questionable partnership with the dazed human. It wasn’t illegal for a vampire or other fey to feed on humans, so long as said human signed a contract with the fey, consenting to anything that might be done to them and so long as it didn’t end in a dead human. Unfortunately, whether the human was in a healthy enough state to sign that contract was usually a sticky gray area. Drug addicts and the mentally unsound were often targeted for toxic or downright abusive pairings. 

You were about to say something more on the topic, especially since Yugi was looking uneasy at the darkening mood, but just as you opened your mouth, something grabbed your arm and pulled you back. Some _ one _ , you amended, as a familiar voice called your name, and you were pulled into a leather and lace-clad chest.

“You haven’t visited little o’ me in forever,” Mai said, tone cheerful as she continued to embrace you with surprising strength. “And you brought friends!”

“Hi, Mai,” you greeted, tone a little awkward as you reached up and patted her on the back, the other arm hanging by your side uselessly. 

After another squeeze she released you, letting you get a healthy amount of air back in your lungs. Mai was as stunning as ever, blonde curls styled to perfection, makeup bold but suited to her daring nature, and corset top matching perfectly with her ripped jeans and lace-up boots. When you turned to introduce the boys to her, you saw that Joey was staring, wide-eyed and mouth slightly agape at your friend.

You flashed him a knowing smirk before moving the moment along, “Mai, this is Joey, Yugi, and Atem.”

“Oooh,” Mai cooed, “Look at you, running with wolves, vampires, and cute little incubi.” She winked over at you when Yugi blushed at the comment, but quickly added, “Welcome to Harpie’s Fortune boys, if my favorite mage says you’re good, then you’re welcome here.” She put a hand on your back then and started guiding you the last few feet to the corner booth, her tone lowering as she addressed you. “But something tells me you aren’t here for a drink or two. You’ve got that look in your eye, girly.”

“You know me too well,” you signed as you started scooting into the seat.

Before she could answer, Mai’s attention snapped back to the middle of the room and she raised her hand in a wave. “Anzu! It’s not often you drop by on a night that isn’t ladies night.”

“Hey, Mai,” the white witch greeted as she neared your table. She had gotten there quick. “I’m actually here with these guys tonight.”

“Oh?” Mai flashed her eyes back to you, “You never told me you knew Anzu.”

“We just met today actucally, through them,” you waved your hand at Yugi and Atem, who had taken the two spaces beside you, leaving Joey and Anzu to sit on the other side.

“Hm, small city then.”

When the five of you had settled down in the booth, Mai waved over her waitress and told your group to order so you could get down to business. After placing your order the waitress scurried off to the kitchen and Mai grabbed a chair from the empty neighboring table, scooting it to the head of your booth and plopping down.

“Now, what can I help you with, hm?” the blond asked.

Everyone else leaned in, considering you hadn’t relayed exactly what Pegasus had told you, and Anzu was a bit behind on everything that had been uncovered that day.

“I may have a lead on Marik,” you started, tone low enough not to carry far. “Rumor is that his followers have been picking up humans off the streets and something we found today says that he drains all of them not only for food but also in an effort to turn them so he can gain followers. 

Mai sighed, “Thank explains how he’s kept his body dumps down to a minimum. And the cops around here write their deaths off as overdoses or muggings gone wrong. Still no idea  _ where _ he picks these poor souls up?”

“Not really, but I think I have a description of one of his closer cronies, one that might be doing a lot of the victim picking. We’re hoping that if we find him, we’ll find Marik. Have you seen or heard of a vampire hanging around, tall, well built, tan skin, and tattoos of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs on his face?”

Mai raised an eyebrow, “That’s a rather distinct man right there, and unfortunately, no, I haven’t seen or heard of anyone fitting that description. But now that I know you’re looking, I’ll keep an eye out, Honda will, too.” She leaned back in her chair, actually looking a bit concerned now. “I’ll ask some of my regulars if they’ve seen any vamps creeping on humans. Usually they mention that stuff to me anyway because they know I’ll pass it on to you, but, you never know.”

You nodded and despite the fact that your lead had come to a halt, you were hopeful. You knew that Mai’s personal history with ‘creepy’ vampires would make her take this threat and her promise seriously. “Thanks, we’d appreciate that.”

Mai nodded, then got up from her seat. “No problem. There’s something else I needed to talk to you about, though.”

She waved her hand as she started towards the bar and, after casting a look to the others at the booth, moved to get up and followed her. Atem and Yugi had to move out of your way and Yugi looked as though he wanted to ask what was up. In contrast, Atem’s eyes narrowed a little and you wondered if he had wanted to say something regarding your leads before Mai left, but you figured that Mai had purposely cut the conversation short with that in mind. 

Through the crowds you wove, until Mai slipped behind the bar, leaving you to lean against the support beam nearby. She took a folded up piece of notepaper out from under the old landline phone and returned to you.

“About an hour ago, that creepy ghoul contact of yours called. He said to tell you that he has some info you’d want to hear and to meet him at the old parkway apartment building.” She handed you the paper, with the address and date scrawled across it in Mai’s neat handwriting. “I didn’t want to mention it in front of your friends,” she continued, arms crossed. “Didn’t know how much they were meant to know or...” her voice trailed off then, an odd occurrence for the confident Mai who always had something to say.

You looked up and met her eyes, wondering if she was recalling the last time a creeper vampire picked a human up off the streets. “Thanks, Mai. With any luck, he’ll have something that’ll help us catch Marik. And don’t worry, we will catch him.”

That confident smile was back on Mai’s face in an instant, though you couldn’t tell if it was her typical mask or not. “I’m not worried, there’s a reason you’re the only magician I trust, you know.”

“And as for them,” you threw a look back at the booth where your new friends were still seated, “Anything you want to pass on to me, you can tell them. Especially Yugi and Atem.”

Mai got a very...interested look on her face then. “Ooh, what’s this? My girl saying things like ‘we’ and sharing all her secret contacts with friends. And here I always thought you were a lone wolf type!”

A sudden nervous air filled your chest and you found yourself looking away. “They’re just helping me with the Marik case, that’s all.”

When Mai gave an unconvinced hum you scoffed and turned to walk back to your booth without another word, hearing her chuckle to herself as you went. It didn’t take long to reach the table and scoot back into your spot beside Yugi and Atem, taking in their curious but silent gazes.

“She had a message for me from Bonz, I’ll be meeting him tomorrow night for some information.”

Yugi smiled, hopeful and positive, “That’s good, maybe with what we found out tonight, it’ll be something good!”

“Maybe…” you trailed off, looking at the pressed wood of the table with unfocused eyes as you thought.

After a minute, Atem’s deep voice brought you out of said musings. “You didn’t mention that Mai herself is a human. I’m surprised she would own a place like this.”

You almost smirked at that. Most were shocked, to say the least when they saw a young human girl catering to demons and mythical creatures. “Yup. There’s a reason she’s so serious about making sure humans are safe here, and that none of her customers cause any trouble.”

“Speaking of,” Anzu said with an annoyed huff, and nodded her head back towards the bar.

When you all turned that direction, you saw that a minotaur was jumping up from his barstool and glowering down at one of the wolves who had been playing poker just minutes ago.

“How about I beat in that muzzle of yours, mutt!” the minotaur snarled as the werewolf looked up at him with a bored expression.

“Hey!” Mai’s firm and icy voice cut above the shorter man’s snapping comeback and she leaned against the bar, glaring at the two patrons. “You both know the rules, take it outside, or can it all together!”

“I don’t take orders from scrawny ass humans like you,” the minotaur barely gave Mai a glance as he growled, which only served to anger the blonde even more.

“That’s it, out you go, walking or tossed out, I don’t care which.”

When the beast actually turned his attention fully on Mai, Joey and Atem both jumped up from their seats. “She’s gonna get herself killed!” Joey hissed.

You gave your new friend’s shin a firm kick and Atem an almost disinterested look. “Sit down, Mai can handle herself. She doesn’t need any knights to swoop in and save her. And even if she did, about a dozen others would beat you to it.”

Indeed, more than ten other patrons had gotten to their feet at the sign of a brewing fight, but they, much like Honda by the door, waited, hanging back and only ready to step in if needed. Cultivate the right kind of customers, and you get the right kind of loyalty.

Just as you said, though, Mai was seasoned at dealing with troublemakers three times her size and strength. The moment the minotaur started spewing a threat at her directly, she rolled her eyes and pulled something out from under the bar. 

Mai hefted the giant and already loaded crossbow in her hands, aiming it right at the aggressor's throat. “Because I really don’t like cleaning blood off my bar I’ll say it one more time. Out. Now. Or my iron-tipped friend here will give you a new piercing to go with that gaudy nose ring.”

With a new wariness to his gaze, the minotaur eyed the tip of the arrow, cautious considering his kind were quite vulnerable to iron. Then he let out a snarl through his nose and gave the werewolf a hard shove to move out of his way as he turned. “Eh you ain’t worth killing, this place is trash anyway.”

Mai kept her weapon trained on the man’s back as Honda opened the door and waved him out with a mocking gesture. Just like that, the crisis was averted, like usual and everyone settled back down to their drinks and food as if nothing had happened. When Joey and Atem gave each other confused looks you actually let out a laugh, which Anzu and Yugi quickly joined.

Oh yes, Mai could take care of herself indeed.

  
  


***

“So, if my understanding is correct, you and your entire staff could not hold her for the twelve minutes it took us to get here?”

“Well there’s no need to be so snarky,” Pegasus sighed, eyeing the tall magician with a mane of long flowing hair to rival his own. 

The vampire’s staff (or at least the few who could still walk) had barely started sweeping up the mess you had left behind. Windows and doors busted, tables left charred and upturned, glass  _ everywhere _ \- to put it short, the vampire lord’s club, was a mess.

“You underestimated her, did you?” Mana asked in a singsong tone. Then, when she saw a vampire who was healing from a nasty gash in his throat help a troll untangle himself from a fancy rope, she actually giggled.

Mahad threw her a scolding look and she quickly stifled her laughter, straightening her posture to something more professional. “Is there anything else you can tell us?” Mahad asked the vampire.

“Yes, she was with three young fey, they helped her best my bodyguards.” He cast a look around his demolished dining room. “Though I’m certain she would have managed to escape without them. Your kind trained her well.”

Mahad narrowed his eyes at the smiling tone in the vampire’s last words and found himself wondering if Pegasus really had tried his hardest to detain you. The old vampire had always been a bit...chaotic, and it wouldn’t surprise Mahad if he only half tried to capture you, just to see how the rest played out for his own amusement.

“Yes, they did train her well,” Mahad answered.

“Good thing they trained me even better,” came a new voice brimming with condescension.

The magicians and vampire turned to see two more men approaching through the broken dining room doors. Mahad felt an anxious heat crawl across his skin as the newcomers examined the scene.

“What are you two doing here?” Mana snapped at them.

The cocky one of the two, the one who had spoken, pulled a pack of cigarettes from his jacket pocket and leisurely lit one before answering. “We’re here to take over the hunt, of course.” He took a long drag, then blew the smoke out in a long breath, aiming it straight for Mana’s displeased face. “Council says you two are too...friendly with the target,” a nasty smile crossed his lip then, “so we’re going to hunt her down instead.”

Before Mana or Mahad could reply, Pegasus let out a loud, bellowing laugh. “You two? You’ve got to be kidding me!” As if for dramatic effect, the vampire pressed his hand to his forehead, still laughing, “Oh, she’s going to eat you two boys alive!”

“Shut it, prissy boy!” the cocky magician snapped, sadistic smirk now twisted into a scowl.

“Young man, do you realize how many vampires and demons of all variety I employ, hm?” Pegasus said in a mocking tone.

“Oh, we know,” the second of the two finally spoke, “that’s why they sent us- well, me at least,” he threw a raised eyebrow at his partner before shrugging. Then, his eyes scanned a scorched wall as he let out a low whistle of appreciation. “Knew she wouldn’t have trouble escaping, tore the place up pretty good too.” He gave an admiring sigh, tucking a stray strand of dark hair behind his ear. “Such a badass, I swear I’m in love with that girl.”

“You shut it too, pretty boy,” his partner growled, then turned back to Mahad and Mana. “The Council's put us in charge of this, so just stay the hell outta my way, got it?”

Mana bristled at the demand, fists clenching as she made to step forward- but Mahad extended a hand to stop her. She didn’t miss the way her master’s jaw clenched as he replied to the two men.

“If that is what the Council wishes, then we will not argue,” Mahad said in a tone devoid of any emotion. “Do you wish to hear what we’ve already found?”

The cocky one’s smirk was back as he took another drag of his cigarette. “Don’t bother.” He stepped away then, purposely turning his back on the master and apprentice as he unsheathed his silver dagger and ran his thumb along the flat of the blade. “We’ve got other ways of hunting her down.” 


End file.
